


Let Me Drown

by ShadowThorne



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M, Pirates, merman ichigo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-10-16
Packaged: 2018-02-15 03:48:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 30,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2214663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowThorne/pseuds/ShadowThorne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being brutally attacked by a mythical creature, Captain Jaegerjaquez ends up with a very unlikely companion to keep him company while at sea. Unfortunately, it’s hard for an 8 foot long merman to hide for long. One day, Grimmjow’s loyal crew spots the monster that had injured their captain months ago, following the ship and the man aboard and surely seeking another attempt, and take matters into their own hands. GrimmIchi. Character death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I should be telling people I have a tumblr? Idk, go follow me or something. It's under the same name as here (shadowthorne.tumbr.com). I post mostly anime stuff, plenty of bleach, some nsfw content. I also post all of my crappy art work, update notifications for my stories, and the occasional WIP or teaser for upcoming fics.
> 
> Anyway, this was orginally going to be a oneshot but like most of my writing, it's turning out much longer than originally planned, so I'm breaking it up into parts. There will be at least one more chapter, possibly two. Also like most the things I write, it's not going to be among the happiest of things. It's of the tragedy genre and the last part will darken considerably. 
> 
> If you're still up for it, try to enjoy the story!

The day was a hot one, quiet and lazy. Gentle waves lapped up on the nearby shore, pushing and manipulating the clean sands so that if one were to stand at the water’s edge, they would slowly sink into the warm melding of earth and sea. The sun shone high overhead, the sky blue. The water was a welcome coolness, it’s color a deeper, more rich blue-green to blend with the sky in the distance. Smelling of salt and open water, the air was clean, the breeze gentle and caressing.  
  
Not far off, where the land gave way below the ocean and the water deepened, a large, imposing ship bobbed with the easy waves. It had three masts and the sails were lowered, edges fluttering in the gentle breeze, the ropes of the rigging slack. The few members of the crew still upon the mighty vessel, a handful of men left to watch guard, lazed about below deck in the shade, little to worry about along the abandoned stretch of coast.  
  
The captain, infamous and dangerous if one were to listen to the whispers that circled round the dark corners of taverns, was a man as formidable as his ship. Tall and broad of shoulder, he cut quite the figure. Lean muscle, strong and toned from years of plying the seas and all that came with it, slid in smooth motions below golden, sun-kissed skin. His features were angular, a little sharp, but handsome and his eyes were bluer than the sea. Hair to match the clear sky above swept back as if tussled by a perpetual, salt-licked breeze.  
  
Captain Jaegerjaquez was a man of note, a man with a name to remember. The sword he usually wore at his hip had drank deep the blood of men and his ship and crew had conquered countless others. There wasn’t a sailor around the globe that didn’t search for white sails and a blue flag on the horizon. Even other pirates often fled when he approached. And he grinned as he gave chase.  
  
Currently, he stood just offshore in water that reached his waistline, his ship and a good portion of his crew less than a kilometer in the distance and further out to sea, in nothing but a pair of tight breeches that reached mid-calf and usually tucked into his boots. His heavy, knee length coat and sturdy boots sat spread out in the warm sand, left to dry and air out with the rest of his clothing. The gun usually strapped to his belt lay nearby, where the flintlock and powder would stay dry. All that he carried with him was a single, well-crafted but aged dagger, tucked into the leather belt he’d left around his waist to hold his pants up.  
  
Bathing in salt water wasn’t exactly possible, but none of Grimmjow’s crew questioned it when, after the third week of being docked and motionless while the men rested and his ship was restocked, the captain claimed he wished privacy to bathe and waded out into the shallows. Most in the crew thought him part fish anyway, there was nothing new to the captain’s need and yearning for wide, open waters and the smell of salt.  
  
So Grimmjow was granted his privacy, and the men he kept nearest him remained respectfully upon the ship. He waded a bit further out to sea, simply breathing in the scent of all that lay around him. Trailing his fingers across the top of the water, arms out to his sides, he felt the smooth, liquid slide of coolness between his fingers. The water lapped at his naked torso. His bare feet settled upon the cool, soft sand below him, confident and well balanced despite the small waves that reached out toward him. It was as though they both pushed him towards shore and pulled him out to sea.  
  
Closing his eyes in a moment of peaceful bliss, Grimmjow tipped his head back and drank in the sun above, hands still held out to brush the very surface of the water. Standing there like that, eyes closed, his body pushed and pulled by the waves, he could almost pretend he was back on his ship finally, sailing the seven seas with land no where in sight and nothing but endless, blue freedom all around.  
  
His peace was shattered when something smooth, leathery almost, grazed across his shins. Surprised and startled, his eyes snapped wide, but he didn’t dare jolt or move. Sharks hadn’t been spotted. No one from his crew not far off had called out, nor had he seen any evidence of one himself, but that didn’t mean one or many hadn’t slipped through their radar.  
  
Remaining remarkably calm, he oh so slowly brought his hands out of the water, holding them in an almost surrendering position as he looked down and around him. Blue eyes trying to look past the glittering surface, he made a careful circle where he stood, quickly searching for shadows and shapes below the surface or fins above.  
  
When he found nothing, his attention darted back toward his ship. Letting a calm, just barely shuddering breath slowly exhale through his nose, he dared a step backward and back toward shore, making no sudden movements that might draw extra attention, and careful not to drag his feet and thus stir up the sand into a cloudy mess that would do the same. He’d yet to be attacked by a shark in his history at sea and he fully hoped to keep it that way.  
  
Just as his back foot planted and he shifted his weight to continue backward, another brush of a leathery fin caressed the backs of his thighs, like the thing was circling him. There was an almost playful nature to it, the way the creature stayed out of sight, yet came in close enough to touch him.  
  
“Fuck...” The captain muttered under his breath, again looking out toward his ship. He kept his arms up, hands out of the water, despite that exposing his torso left him feeling bare and vulnerable. His every urge and instinct screamed to bring his hands down so that he might have a way of blocking or deterring the animal, but he knew that to be asinine and the extra motion of hands in the water would only draw more attention.  
  
He was just about to call out, letting his lookout on deck know he might be in need of assistance soon, when something warm and solid and very much alive wrapped around his leg, just below the edge of his pants. His shout turned into a startled yelp as he was jerked from his feet. The water seemed to rush up to meet him as he went under.  
  
On board, a crew member frowned and turned to look, thinking he’d heard something out of place. “Hey,” He called to another crewman, “D’you see the captain?”  
  
The man walked up to the railing, leaning over it slightly to look into the distance. After a heartbeat, he frowned, “Maybe he’s on his way back?”  
  
But even as he suggested it, both sets of eyes panned towards the water’s edge to see the captain’s pile of clothing still scattered among the sand, untouched. Just then, Grimmjow resurfaced with a deep, desperate gulp of air. Water sprayed around him as he backpedaled in a rush through the waist-deep shallows. Around him, the sand below had been churned into a cloudy haze. He yelled something aggressive, something wordless as he frantically searched the depths around him with wide eyes.  
  
Stunned, the two crewmen stared.  
  
The captain’s aggressive, growling shout was cut off yet again, this time raising in something more pained and startled as he was once again yanked below the surface by something too powerful for him to combat.  
  
Both crewmen scrambled into action. One dashed across the deck and toward the plank that allowed men to walk to and from the ship and dock. The other sprinted in the opposite direction, shouting for the first mate. The obviously hurried actions of their comrades brought the rest of the crew that had remained onboard to attention. The first mate, a tall, lean man with intelligent eyes, heard the frantic shouting and met the crewman half way up the stairs that led below deck.  
  
“The captain!” The man shouted, pointing toward the ship’s railing and the direction Grimmjow had been swimming, “Something’s wrong, something’s attacking ‘im!”  
  
Trained and accustomed to a rough life at sea, a life full of pirating and danger and unpredictable situations, the first mate leapt into action. He started calling out orders, gathering the crew that hovered nearby. Following behind their second in command, they scrambled from the ship and onto shore, streaking in a dead sprint toward where Grimmjow had entered the water at.  
  
Under orders, the lookout stayed upon the ship. He practically threw himself against the rails as his sharp eyes scanned the water’s surface. All he found was churned water and chaos. The water bubbled almost like it was boiling a moment before Grimmjow again reappeared.  
  
Teeth bared and features twisted with pain, rage and maybe even a bit of fright, the big man seemed hunched forward, like he grappled with something in front of him and just below. His head was above water for hardly a second before he again shouted something and was dragged back under. Soon, the chaotic surface was stained with a murky red.  
  
Below the surface, Grimmjow practically screamed as sharp, hooked claws shredded the tender flesh of his stomach. The talons cut through muscle, bit deep, before being pulled free. Eyes wide, even below the surface, Grimmjow only caught glimpses through the muddied, churned water as he searched for the thing attacking him. He caught the glide of smooth muscle, of skin that shone a light gold and something that shimmered with deep, vibrant purples and reds. Whatever it was, it was long and fast, too swift. Claws found his body again and this time, fingers wrapped around his arm, dragging him toward even deeper water.  
  
He fought against it, strained and tried to dig in his feet. Something thick and leathery slammed against his lower legs, kicking them out from under him. Then it was in his face, up close. Deep, brown eyes glared murderously at him, framed in flowing, fiery orange.  
  
Lungs burning and salt eating at his ravaged flesh, Grimmjow choked out a desperate sound that was lost in the chaos of waves and thrashing limbs. The claws dug in and he could have sworn they cut nearly to his sternum, like the monster was trying to grab hold of bone, of something it wouldn’t tear through like paper. Teeth flashed in the gloom, sharp and elongated and vicious, but not a shark’s. They came for his throat and he couldn’t get out of the way, not while fighting the water’s weightless effects and the creature’s strength.  
  
He finally got his bearings and his wits enough to rip his arm from it’s grasp and reach to his belt. He pulled the old, heavy dagger from it’s sheath. Everything seemed slowed down by the water, timeless. Brown eyes flashed away from his, caught sight of the dagger, just before the wicked blade was jammed under the creature’s arm and plunged between its ribs.  
  
Even in the dampening water, Grimmjow heard the monster shriek. The claws were finally ripped from his flesh and Grimmjow rose back to the surface as shapes closed in from behind him. He’d just barely taken his first breath in far too long when hands were again upon him.  
  
He thrashed, panicked while pain and adrenaline clouded his mind. “Captain! Captain, we’ve got you!” It was shouted over and over, as three or four sets of hands tried to hold him up and keep him above the surface.  
  
Finally, the familiar face of his first mate came into focus and Grimmjow tried to choke out words but he had no idea what he was trying to say and nothing but saltwater seemed willing to work its way up his throat. He stumbled, disoriented from the blood-loss, exhaustion of fighting off the beast and air deprivation. Pulled back to his feet, he was half guided, half dragged back to shore.  
  
In all the time the captain struggled and fought below the waves, in all the time the few crew members waded out to his aid, the lookout never once called out a sighting of the thing responsible for Grimmjow’s attack. The injured, bleeding man was carried back to his ship, only half aware of those around him as he mumbled incoherent nonsense about legends and sea monsters.   
  
The first mate, soaked by seawater and smeared in his captain’s blood, called for the doctor of the crew.  
  
Grimmjow reawakened hours later, after the sun had settled below the horizon and the moon lit everything in a pale whitewash. It reflected on the surface of the water like a mirror, only the occasional small wave to make it shimmer. Like it had been earlier, as if nothing at all had happened, the ocean was smooth and calm, unchanged and unaffected.  
  
The captain groaned a small sound as he struggled to roll from his bunk. He’d been stripped from his wet pants and changed into something looser, something dry. It was the only shred of clothing he wore and floor of his cabin was warm below his bare feet. As he straightened, everything came back to him in a rush and fire lit his abdomen with a hungry strength that burned the air from his lungs. He doubled over, a steadying hand on his bunk, and hissed a breath between his teeth.  
  
A few seconds later, measured steps brought him further below deck to find his crew. He found them gathered round in their shared quarters, speaking and whispering amongst themselves like conspiring traitors.  
  
“Shark.” One said, like it made sense, like it was only logical answer.  
  
Another shook his head, “Captain knows how to handle sharks. Wasn’t a shark.”  
  
Yet another, the man that had patched the injured, bleeding captain up, spoke up, “No, it wasn’t a shark. When I was in town the other day, there was mention of a lack of sharks around this stretch of coast. Apparently there hasn’t been any in years now.”  
  
“What was it then?”  
  
The makeshift doctor shook his head in a helpless gesture, “All I know is that sharks don’t leave marks like that. Shark teeth didn’t do that to his chest.”  
  
“There’s nothing else to expl-”  
  
“Wasn’t a shark.” Grimmjow grunted as he neared, silencing the lot of them. His first mate stood from the chair he’d occupied and Grimmjow gratefully accepted the silent offer, taking a seat amongst his crew. “And the damn thing ended up choking on my favorite dagger. Kept it, too.”  
  
There was a short round of laughter at that, knowing the man well enough to know that he had personally delivered that dagger in the most painful way possible.  
  
“Was high time ya got a new one anyway, Cap’ain.” A crewmen, the lookout, said. A wide smile split the young lad’s features, his scruffy blond hair hanging in his eyes as usual.  
  
Grimmjow grunted a laugh, “Guess our next catch better be Imperial.”  
  
Another round of laughter, before Grimmjow’s first mate pushed a bottle of rum into his hands and said, “Only the finest for Captain Jaegerjaquez.”  
  
A wicked grin split handsome features as Grimmjow raised the bottle up and out towards his comrades, “Only the very finest.”  
  
Bottles and mugs clanked as the crew drank, relieved and in good spirits now that their superior was well and would recover.  
  
The crew was given the rest of the week, before Grimmjow called an end to their downtime. The ship was restocked, the rigging and haul inspected, casks and trunks tied down below deck as they prepared. They set sail again, Captain Jaegerjaquez eager to be at the helm and on the open sea. The incident was brushed off, the evidence of the attack hidden below bandaging and the captain’s clothing.  
  
•••  
  
Deep under the water, in a kingdom not like ours, the creature Captain Jaegerjaquez had encountered bared teeth in an uncomfortable hiss. Slim fingered hands gingerly grasped the heavy handle of the blade embedded under his arm. Blood seeped from torn flesh, thick and cloying in the water around him. The gills along his throat fluttered wide, a deep breath filtered into his lungs. On the exhale, little bubbles rising through the dark waters, he bared his fangs further and pulled the dagger free.  
  
Around him, predatory fish swarmed in schools, drawn by the blood that clung in the water. A flash of fangs was enough to keep them back and, tail fin flashing with bright reds and angry yellows with the sharp pain of the wound, the creature was given easy passage as he began to swim.  
  
Brown eyes flashed in the darkness of deep water, reflecting what little light reached such a depth. They were wide with a mix of curiosity and animosity as they studied the heavy dagger held in clawed hands.  
  
As he swam, powerful tail propelling him through saltwater, Ichigo stretched out, letting the ocean water flow over the deep wound in his side. Unlike to the human he’d injured, the salt and coolness was soothing to a mercreature. Within minutes, the brilliant colors that had bled into his tail with the angry pain began to sooth and dull. Vivid, intense reds and yellows slowly faded, replaced by their usual gold-gilded, calm violet. The deep color blended well with the gloom of deep sea, but Ichigo had very little to worry about.  
  
Since he’d come of age, years ago, he’d been the top predator of his territory. Even the large sharks that had once roamed this stretch of coastal waters, feared by even the most seasoned and hardened of sailors, had learned to avoid him.  
  
Though his top half was that of a man, Ichigo was armed with an array of natural weapons the humans lacked. Wicked claws tipped his fingers, which when opened wide, sported a flexible webbing to help him when navigating through tighter spaces or between sea plants and ship wrecks. His teeth were pearly and strong, fanged more like a barracuda’s than a shark’s, though still sporting the same number and general size of a human’s teeth. His gold-shimmering, violet tail was long and slim, but powerful, ending in a wide, flexible caudal fin that carried spines. His dorsal and pelvic fins were tapered, elegant almost. They fluttered and swayed with the current and his movements in an almost sensual way, but the tips were barbed and the spines were designed to break off in whatever surface the embedded in, like shorter versions of porcupine quills. When that surface was living flesh, they cause infection and bleeding and great pain, then they grew back so that Ichigo was only left unarmed for a matter of days at most. And even then, he still had teeth and claws.  
  
So when something managed to wound him and not die in the process, Ichigo took note. Humans were soft, they were fragile and easily killed. Often, he didn’t even have to cut them open, simply drag the pitiful things out to sea. They drowned in a matter of minutes and left him with an easy meal.  
  
But this most recent prey item had actually fought back, and more than just flailing about and screaming. Of course there had been that, but the man that had dared set foot in his waters had been strong of mind and body. He’d done surprisingly well at keeping his wits about him, despite the panic Ichigo had been able smell seeping into the waters around them. When the man had not only been clear of mind enough to think to grab the dagger he’d had with him, but swift and confident enough to accurately strike even underwater, Ichigo had been caught off guard.  
  
He’d met other sailors that had struggled, even a few that had drawn weapons on him, but few had ever managed to wound him so deeply. A few cuts and scratches at most, as they tried to slash at him and drive him away, but now he’d forever sport a scar to mark where a human had harmed him.s  
  
Ichigo snorted a derisive sound and scowled his dislike as he swam, tail flushing with a deep, swirling blue.  
  
He couldn’t stay away though, and the next day, after the sea had cleaned and dressed his wound for him, he returned to the stretch of beach he’d found the sailor. He could still smell the blood in the water, but as he glided closer to shore, close enough that he had to use his hands against the sand of the bottom and more crawl than actually swim, he found no evidence of the man, nor of the men that had bravely scrambled to his aid. He halted his shore-ward trek when he was in water so shallow he could straighten his arms and bring his head and shoulders above the surface.  
  
Peeking from the water, he blinked the clear lens that protected his eyes from the salt away, and peered around as his vision focused. To his left, not even a kilometer away, a massive, deep hauled ship rocked with the surf. He’d known it was there, of course. A massive, human ship didn’t roll into his territory undetected, but he hadn’t actually went to explore it yet. So that’s what he did.  
  
Wiggling and pushing himself into deeper water again, he turned and glided through the shallows and toward the ship. Once there, he trailed his fingers along the smooth, wooden haul. He dove, following the curve until he found the bottom of the ship, then started ascending on its other side until he once more reached the surface.  
  
When he once more breached the surface, tail swaying out below him to hold him aloft and keep him from drifting with the tide, he again trailed claw-tipped fingers over the haul, feeling where water smoothed wood gave way to dry, oiled wood. Looking up, he eyed the railing high above, face lifted to the air around him. He could smell alcohol, the poisonous scent making his nose burn and his lip curl to flash teeth. Though he’d never tried it, he would never understand how humans drank that stuff... He could also smell the man he’d attacked though; his blood, his sweat and his general musk. It seemed he’d live.  
  
Despite that he hovered close by, Ichigo didn’t actually catch sight of the sailor that had survived his attack. That was a rare thing, almost unheard of among his kind, and as much as it angered Ichigo, it also drew his curiosity.  
  
It became something of a habit for him to check in on the ship and its crew. At night, after the sun had dropped below the horizon and the crew had mostly turned in, Ichigo would surface and curiously explore what parts of the haul he could reach. He mapped the underside that sat below the water’s waves, studied the various scratches and pits in the wood, the evidence of distress and repair. He reached as high up as he could, traced his fingers along the scuff marks and scars of battle that ran the haul’s length. Near the bow, on the starboard side, the dull, rhythmic clank of heavy chains was a constant background noise. No doubt the crew and captain no longer even noticed it, but to Ichigo, who’d never been on a ship, the creak of the massive anchor and it’s chain as it rocked with the ship and the rolling waves was new. After finding the source of the noise, he realized it wasn’t a fault in the ship. Looking up at where the chain disappeared in the ship’s side, he guessed he could probably reach it if he tried and was in water deep enough to get a good, running start. Well, swimming start. But aside from peeking out over the deck and chancing that he was spotted by a bunch of murderous humans, there was little point. It wasn’t as if he could exactly climb over the rail and go exploring, seeing as he had no legs meant for dry land.  
  
Following the chain, he dove down to the ocean’s bottom where the heavy anchor had been dropped. The chain itself was nearly as big around as Ichigo was, and when he found the massive weight half embedded in the sand below, he wasn’t really all that surprised that the huge anchor was bigger than him. Even had he wanted to, there would have been no chance he’d have been able to lift it. It was scratched and pitted from use, from dragging along the bottom, along rock shelfs and who knew what else. Like the ship’s underside, it showed the worn signs of having been well used, seeing its share of many a sea battle.  
  
Ichigo let out a thoughtful, almost curious sound and scraped his claws over it’s rough surface. He gave a harsh tug to the link of chain where it attached to the anchor and, even in the weightlessness of water, it hardly moved. He snorted, pushing air from adapted lungs and sending a few bubbles upward. Swishing his tail, he slowly followed the bubbles and headed back toward the surface and the ship that floated there.  
  
By the end of the week, he pretty much had the bottom side of the ship memorized. In the middle of the night, just before the week could turn to a new one, a deep reverberating sound sent ripples through the water of Ichigo’s territory. Startled awake, Ichigo’s eyes snapped wide, before he realized it must have been the ship. He rocketed through the water, arms at his side to keep him streamline and his powerful tail and fins guiding his motions. It took him only minutes to reach the ship and he watched as the anchor dragged the bottom, chain pulled tight. Then the ship’s bulk rocked slightly with the weight, and the anchor pulled free of the sand. The slow crank of wooden cogs could be heard, vibrating through the ship’s haul as the anchor was drawn upward.  
  
Curious, Ichigo swam up to it, following it’s ascent. When he was nearly to the surface, he paused and watched as enormous, off-white canvas attached to sturdy crossbeams was heaved upward along the three masts. The higher they were raised, the more they unfurled until wide sails were pulled taut and ready to catch the wind. Rigging was tied down as crewmen bustled back and forth and orders were shouted along the ship.  
  
Another noise, much quieter and less reverberating then before, echoed through the water and Ichigo looked toward the aft and watched as the large, flat device that steered the ship’s course began to angle. The rudder paused once it got to a certain angle and Ichigo finally coasted upward the few feet that had separated him from the surface, just in time to listen as a familiar voice called out.  
  
“You doubting my prowess?” The captain called aftward in a good natured jab.  
  
“No!” Was the responding answer, “Course not, Cap’ain. All I’m sayin’s that it’s going to be a tight fit.”  
  
“She made it in!” Grimmjow’s features split into a wide grin as he stood at the helm, carefully but confidently rotating it until the ship would turn at the angle he needed to maneuver from the cove they’d made port in. “She’ll make it back out.”  
  
The ocean this close to land was still shallow, the ground below the water not far from the ship’s keel and the bottom of the haul, but it was high tide and Grimmjow and his crew were skilled.  
  
Ichigo ducked back below the water as a few men leaned over the railing. He watched them point and call out the position of troublesome outcroppings below the surface as the ship groaned into motion. Another man stood high above the rest, balanced upon pegs that lined the rear mast. His footing was surprisingly sure as the large ship lurched from it’s resting place. He too called out, warning the captain when steering correction was needed.  
  
Twenty minutes later, the merman swam at the ship’s side in deep, free ocean waters. He listened to happy cheers of victory and congratulations of a job well done from the crew upon the ship, then watched in something close to awe as the rudder cut clear to one side and the massive vessel leaned almost impossibly to one side, making an incredibly sharp turn for such a large craft. Not more than a few seconds later, the ship’s  bow was cutting through water as the pirate vessel sailed away from land.  
  
Never had Ichigo seen such skillful maneuvering in a craft of this size.  
  
Still recovering from the injuries he’d received earlier in that week, from an animal he had never before seen, Captain Jaegerjaquez retired back to his private cabin after he and his crew had gotten the ship into open waters safely. He left the captaining to his first mate, confident in his men that all would be smooth sailing while he re-bandaged his wounds and rested.  
  
Grimmjow and his crew were out to sea for weeks before they approached imperial traffic lanes. Just as he’d said, they were out for a large catch this time around. The lost dagger was merely an excuse, though he did intend to select a new one to call his own out of what they looted.  
  
In that time, Grimmjow had healed up and was left with only a single, wide scar running the length of his abdomen to show where claws had shredded his front. He remained oblivious to the silent observer that had been keeping tabs on him and his ship and his crew.  
  
Even as Ichigo finally grew curious enough and dared climb his way up the hull of the ship, so that he could peek over the railing, Grimmjow remained none the wiser to his admirer. Breathing the waterless air for extended periods of time was strange at first, pulling the air through his nose rather than through his gils, where oxygen was usually filtered from the water. But he quickly figured it out and grew used to it.  And of course, after doing climbing up to the ship’s deck once, Ichigo naturally grew more confident in his ability to get a closer look, and so grew more bold. It became an almost nightly thing in the weeks that the ship plied the sea, almost peaceful in its journey.  
  
Each night, he climbed up to prop his top half against the deck, just below the railing, in a new area so that he could see more and more of the massive craft’s body. His tail hanging over the side, he would wiggle it excitedly, almost cat-like, and curiously study all that there was to see; masts, rigging, the helm, the doors that led below deck, the various casks and chests left tied down on the deck. In the dark of night, he even studied the way the skeleton crew interacted and talked amongst themselves while on watch as the rest of the crew rested in their bunks.  
  
Several times, he was even witness to the captain wandering about the deck. His crew treated him with respect, but it was in a loose, friendly way, not rigid and forced. One night, Ichigo learned the big man’s name and he rolled it around on his tongue until he could pronounce the foreign sounds with ease. It was almost a growl, more of a sound than a name, and it fit the human well from what Ichigo had seen.  
  
Then, what the pirates had been waiting for finally happened. Weeks after Ichigo had watched the skillful extraction and captaining, large, white sails were spotted on the horizon. It was the middle of the night when the lookout called down from his perch in an excited voice. Calls instantly went out through the crew that remained on deck to watch over the ship through the night.  
  
Ichigo jerked back, his first thought to drop back into the safe depths of the ocean as the thud of boots made the wood his front half rested on vibrate. But he refrained, and peeked over the edge of the deck to watch as the blue haired captain emerged from the depths of his ship’s belly.  
  
A wide, eager grin pulled at Grimmjow’s handsome features, making his blue eyes swirl with a contagious chaos. Orange brows arched slightly, as Ichigo watched, wondering just what was up.  
  
Taking up a telescope being pushed into his hands, Grimmjow leaned against the railing and raised the object. The ship that had been spotted was too far away to see figures moving about on the deck, or to begin working out its identity, but it held four masts and imperial flags and excitement stirred in the captain’s belly. “Time to get me that new dagger, boys.” He announced. His crew cheered.  
  
By the approaching day, the imperial ship had drawn close enough that looking through his telescope, Grimmjow could watch the nervous way the crew milled about on deck. With a sharp bark of laughter, he signaled that his flag be raised. High up and fluttering in the breeze, a black flag with blue markings announced his identity and intent as a pirate and an enemy.  
  
The two ships clashed with the falling of the sun. Grimmjow’s ship was steered none to gently into the approaching imperial ship. Hooks were thrown across, anchoring the larger ship and preventing it from fleeing. Soldiers poured over the railing in retaliation, all dressed in imperial uniforms. Grimmjow’s men waded through them with flashing blades and booming gunshots, the captain himself amongst them with a manic grin on his handsome features.  
  
Grimmjow soon found himself squaring off against the military commander of the ship. Their single shot, flint pistols had been discarded within the first few minutes of the battle and now their swords danced and struck and lashed out.   
  
Entranced by the brutal fighting, Ichigo had found himself clinging to the edge of the deck, peeking below the railing as he watched the pirates go against the uniformed men. As his fascination and curiosity demanded, he’d worked his way around the ship until he found Captain Jaegerjaquez.  
  
He watched as the pirate captain’s sword cut a shallow gash low across his opponent’s stomach. As the man doubled over and Grimmjow closed in, his intent clearly set upon ending the small exchange, Ichigo’s eyes widened. Not quite ready to surrender, the enemy commander jerked upright and, instead of ducking away, dove forward. His shoulder caught Grimmjow in the gut, arms wrapping round the captain as the two tumbled back and slammed against the railing near where Ichigo hid.  
  
He ducked lower, but watched with a sort of nervous awe.  
  
The pirate grimaced, the lean lines of his muscular body going rigid as his features twisted. It took Ichigo a long moment to realize what had happened, and it appeared to take the the military commander by surprise as well, but the man saw his opportunity and took it.  
  
Fiery pain lighting his scared chest where the extensive wounds he’d taken weeks ago were still tender, Grimmjow barely rolled out of the way and threw his sword up in time to block the one trying to carve him in half. He growled and ducked, teeth still bared in mixed pain and anger.  
  
The sharp sword took a chunk out of the wooden railing inches from where he’d been thrown against.  
  
Watching the two struggle, Ichigo realized the captain had lost his advantage. Now the enemy knew of his weakness and the commander took advantage of that. Every sword slash was followed by an attempt at blunt harm, all targeted at the pirate’s already tender, still healing core. Only a few glancing blows landed; en elbow thrown at just the right angle, and hard shove from a flat palm, but those few shots were enough to steal the air from Grimmjow’s lungs as he tried to both attack his enemy, and block his abdomen from the abuse.  
  
Anger flared in Ichigo, his tail flushing vibrant reds and purples and yellows as he watched. He snarled a viscous little sound and bared sharp fangs. Without thought, when the two struggling men threw themselves against the railing nearby again, he propelled himself up. The dagger he’d kept close since it had been embedded in his flesh found the military commander’s thigh. It sank clear to the hilt, the sharp point thrusting clean through and out through the other side of the man’s leg.  
  
The commander screamed in surprised agony. Grimmjow didn’t waste his opening. His sword opened wide the man’s throat and he watched for a moment, panting, as the commander dropped to the deck in a gasping, panicked heap. Then his gaze landed on the jutting hilt of the dagger and he frowned. In the short, heated scuffle he hadn’t really put any conscious thought to what was going on, only acting and reacting as he needed to. But glacial eyes narrowed in recognition as he took in the familiar curve of the hilt, before widening and darting over toward the railing.  
  
Ichigo clung to the deck, frozen under that stare for a long moment, before he found his wits and his eyes widened right back.  
  
Around them, the noise of fighting seemed to fall away. The rock of the ship at sea was so second nature to both that neither even noticed as the undulated with the waves and the wind. Grimmjow blinked, then seemed to wake up again and kicked himself into gear. His first reaction was to dive for the man that had apparently fallen overboard. He didn’t really recognize him, but his features looked vaguely familiar and instinct kicked in. He wasn’t from the imperial ship, that was as far as his conscious thoughts went.  
  
But as Grimmjow scrabbled toward the railing Ichigo had latched himself onto, the mercreature realized what he’d done. He’d interfered and allowed himself to be seen. As Grimmjow neared him, he let out something of a startled sound and pushed off from the deck. Falling backwards the height of the ship, he looked up before he splashed into the safety of the water, and watched as the pirate captain slid below the railing, half hanging over the deck’s edge to watch his decent.  
  
Their gazes met just as Ichigo plunged into the cold, dark depths he’d come from. The captain hung over the side of his ship for a long moment, his sharp, blue eyes searching almost desperately. He’d seen those feral, handsome features before, he knew he had, but it hadn’t been until he’d caught sight of the tail that he realized who he was looking at. Or what.  
  
He only pulled himself from between the bottom of the railing and the deck’s edge when he heard boots thudding upon the wood, headed in his direction. Pulling himself upright, he turned to find members of his crew coming toward him, victorious expressions on their features one and all. He forced a wide, overbearing grin upon his own, and as he passed the body of the military commander, he bent to snag his once lost dagger. He tucked the dagger away in the edge of his pants, where his crew wouldn’t get a good enough look at it to recognize it, and pulled his shirt tail over it.   
  
Lifting his sword high, he declared their victory and led his crew across his ship’s deck so that they could board the imperial ship. He couldn’t help but turn to look over his shoulder as he led the way, despite knowing he’d find nothing staring back at him.  
  
After plunging into the ocean, Ichigo had at first darted through the dark water, straight under the ship’s haul, where he could hide from view should the pirate captain somehow be able to penetrate the darkness and see him through the water’s blackness. But after a moment, he’d slowly crept back out, using clawed fingers against the wood of the haul to guide his motions, and stayed just below the surface as he looked back up the length of the ship’s side at the man half hanging over the deck, searching for him. His sight better than that of a humans, designed to allow him to see while swimming in near lightless depths, he watched the way the big man’s features twisted with disbelief, confusion and surprise even, but he found very little fear in the expression.  
  
Even though he knew by the way those blue eyes darted around that the captain couldn’t actually see him, Ichigo felt entranced by the man’s gaze. There was a commanding strength there, a power that only further drew Ichigo in. Never had he found a human so interesting before.  
  
Above the water’s surface, Grimmjow oversaw the capture of prisoners and the looting of the imperial ship. The surviving military sailors were tied up and left to sit in the middle of the deck, watched over by a few of Grimmjow’s crew while the captain dug through the cargo of the other ship.  
  
Upon climbing below deck, Grimmjow found that the ship he’d captured was transporting slaves, of which he had no interest in. The holds were opened up, locks broken and shackles destroyed. He gave a few of the more experienced slaves the opportunity to join his crew, the rest he turned loose and left them to fend for themselves. He and his crew pillaged what they wanted from the imperial commander’s private stash of alcohol and wares, and Grimmjow very carefully selected a new dagger, all the while ignoring the burning weight of his lost one where it settled hidden against his hip. Then the captain and his crew turned the imperial ship over to the slaves they’d set free and wished them luck.  
  
The captain had his prisoners locked up below deck, shackled like the slaves they’d been intending to sell. Then he retreated to his cabin and left the cleaning of his ship to his first mate and crew.  
  
As soon as the door was closed and latched behind him, he dropped his new dagger to his table and pulled out the old one. He turned it in his hands, ran long fingers over the curve of the blade, the smoothness of the metal. He dragged his blunt nails over the familiar indentations of the grip and held it up, turning it so that it caught the flickering flame of his lantern as he inspected it.  
  
The salt water had corroded the finer intricacies of the inlaid gold and vicious claws had screeched across the flat of the blade, leaving shallow, twisted grooves behind. Grimmjow frowned at the dagger, almost gently laying it on the table as he crossed his arms over his chest and sank into the chair at its side. In his mind, there was no denying that the creature that had climbed upon his ship and aided him was the very same that had attacked him on the coast. Had it really followed him and his ship all this way?  
  
Absently itching at the scars across his chest, he leaned back in the chair. Obviously it had.  
  
Above water, the creature -a merman, of which Grimmjow was now certain, despite that such a creature wasn’t supposed to exist- hadn’t had the same ferociousness to him. In the water that day, he’d been all teeth and swift, graceful movements, aggression and and feral power. But clinging to the deck of the ship in the short moments Grimmjow had gotten to see him, the creature had looked young and more curious than anything. Though he looked a bit awkward clutching at the deck the way he had, there was obvious, hard earned strength to the creature’s toned body. His arms and shoulders had been lean, smooth skinned, but obviously roped with wiry muscle.  
  
And when Grimmjow had nearly thrown himself overboard, he’d just glimpsed a long, graceful tail and fluttery fins. It’d been too dark to make out colors very well, but he got the impression of cold blues and greens as the mercreature had stared wide eyed up at him, before it had disappeared in a hurried splash of water. The image was transfixed in the captain’s mind and would be for days to come.  
  
Even as they continued their world wide trek, Grimmjow’s eye always seemed to stray around the railing of his ship. It wasn’t new for him to always have his gaze turned outward, toward the horizon and the open water, but rarely had he been known to keep his attention so close by. He was ever looking for that bright, fiery hair and handsome features peeking over the edge of his ship. The mercreature had followed him this far, he had a hard time believing he would suddenly stop just because he’d been seen.  
  
At night, when most of his crew slept after a long day at manning a full sized ship, he would climb from his bunk and quietly make his way up from below. He would spend hours walking the railing of his beloved ship, searching, waiting.  
  
“I know you’re still out there…” He’d growl, not quite under his breath as he leaned over the rail and watched the water lap against the bulk of the haul. Then, after several long minutes of finding nothing, he’d straighten and continue making laps until he wore himself out and retreated below deck again.  
  
Grimmjow was right. He may not have glimpsed the evidence, but Ichigo dared climb the hull again the very next night. He witnessed the captain’s circling, like a predator. But Ichigo didn’t fear sharks.  
  
He watched the man, observed him, every night for nearly a week, until one night, when Grimmjow’s loop brought him near where the mercreature clung to the deck below the railing, he let his curiosity get the better of him. Rather than ducking out of sight, Ichigo stayed put. He didn’t announce his presence, he didn’t make a sound and didn’t dare move, but it was naive to think the captain wouldn’t see him.  
  
The moment the big man caught sight of him was beyond obvious. The night already half over, light beginning to bleed into the far horizon, Grimmjow’s steps were slow and weary with fatigue. He was just about to call it a night when something not the same colors as his ship and the sea caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Bright orange. He glanced at the figure watching him and made it another step before it sank in that the object of his sleeplessness had finally shown itself again.  
  
Freezing midstep, Grimmjow’s head whipped up and around, those piercing blue eyes locking with wide, deep brown. They stared for a moment longer, before Grimmjow took another step in the creature’s direction.  
  
The merman ducked lower, like he would push from the deck and drop back into the ocean again. His clawed fingers curled against the wooden planks and his shoulders tensed as he watched the captain with a wary but interested gaze.  
  
Grimmjow froze again, his hands shooting up in a staying motion, “Wait-! Wait…” he called quietly to the creature. With careful motions, he reached to his side and pulled free his old dagger, dropping it to the deck where he couldn’t so easily reach it. Then he dared another step closer, further from the weapon.  
 Brown eyes narrowed on him, but the mercreature pulled himself higher again, until his arms were crossed upon the deck and his features were fully visible. He watched as the human neared and when the captain got too close, within a few strides, he flashed long, pointed teeth but still didn’t make for the safety of the ocean yet.  
  
Taking the warning for what it obviously was, Grimmjow froze again. There wasn’t even half a dozen feet of clear deck between them. Deciding not to push his luck any further, the pirate lowered himself to crouch nearer the creature’s level where he’d stopped, and continued to watch the creature for a few heartbeats more.   
  
He looked so human, at least what Grimmjow could see of him. Long, orange hair hung wet about the creature’s shoulders and handsome, youthful features shown with cautious curiosity. The merman’s pupils were slitted, and when he blinked, there was two lids, but there was a thinking, intelligent softness to them, not the cool, dullness of a fish. Barely visible and closed while out of the water, slitted gills lined his throat but Grimmjow could easily see the way the creature’s chest swelled with his even breaths, and the way his nostrils flared slightly as he took in the pirate’s scent.  
  
After the silence had drawn out, he frowned, and hesitated to speak as he wondered about the creature, but did so anyway, “Can you understand me…?”  
  
At his gravely voice, a sound Ichigo had only heard from afar until then, orange brows unfurrowed from their previously aggressive expression. Then Ichigo nodded a subtle motion. He glanced first in one direction, than the other, and when he was satisfied that they were still alone on the ship’s deck, he wiggled his tail and reached out with clawed hands to better grip the wooden surface, and pulled himself further aboard, below the railing so that his chest and stomach rested on dry wood and he could take more weight off his arms and shoulders.  
  
Grimmjow watched him, one corner of his lips twitching into a subtle smirk at the awkward way the creature hauled itself around, clearly designed for water and not land. Then he frowned harder as more of the creature’s body became visible, a row of barbed spines that followed the curve of the creature’s lower back and continued down its tale in an elegantly vicious looking fin. “You tried to kill me.”  
  
Ichigo winced and gave the man a somewhat sheepish shrug as his sharp claws dug against the wood below his hands slightly, “You were in my territory and I was hungry…”  
  
“…” Grimmjow’s features twisted, “You were going to eat me?!”  
  
“Well…most of you.” Ichigo answered truthfully, again shifting where he half laid upon the deck as he watched the crouching pirate captain. “Only the soft parts. Humans are usually rather tasteless…” He paused when blue eyes widened a bit, like he realized he’d said something wrong. Then perked up and nodded like he was trying to salvage his blunder, and added, “but you smelled wonderful!”  
  
The pirate stared for a long second, having no idea how he was supposed to respond to that. “Umm… thanks…”  
  
Ichigo nodded again, a single, defined motion and smiled at the human. His teeth were sharp and gleaming, designed to puncture and hold against slippery scales and wiggling, thrashing prey, but the expression still managed to look warm and almost inviting.  
  
Grimmjow grunted a mildly amused sound, and flattened a palm against the warm wood of his ship as he eased himself from his crouch and into a sitting position. The mercreature watched him carefully, but didn’t look ready to bolt like before. “Do you always make a point of killing and eating pirates?” He couldn’t help but ask, a bit of amusement in his tone. The merman wasn’t the first being to try to kill him, after all. It kind of came with the job.  
  
“Not really,” Ichigo half smiled, relieved that the human wasn’t angry with him. “I’ve only killed a few actually, usually I’d rather just watch them try to swim with their funny legs. You humans are very clumsy in the water. But your ship had been keeping most of my prey from settling in for the few weeks you had been there… So…”  
  
“Oh… I hadn’t realized…”  
  
“It’s fine now, I’m glad you put up more of a fight than most. You’re more interesting alive.” Ichigo smiled again. The captain merely grunted another laugh and shook his head.  
  
When the big man said nothing, Ichigo made a face and once more glanced around the empty deck, before redirecting his attention on the captain. His tail swished out below him, scraping with a quiet, leathery sound against the side of the haul. “Why did you attack the other ship?”   
  
“I needed a new dagger, thanks to you.” Grimmjow grinned, then waved a hand out in front of him, “It was an imperial ship. Not only do they carry the best loot, but dealing a blow to the governing body is always a small victory.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
Grimmjow shrugged, then spent the next twenty minutes explaining what slavery and taxes were. The mercreature decided he didn’t like imperial ships either, after finally wrapping his mind around the idea that schools of humans weren’t really a community, but were actually really mean to each other. Grimmjow was amused by the whole thing, really.  
  
“Thanks, by the way, for aiding me the other night.” Grimmjow motioned over his shoulder toward his dagger. “I owe you.”  
  
“You were only struggling because I had injured you…” Ichigo gave the man another sheepish shrug, “Shall we call it even?”  
  
The pirate barked a laugh and nodded his agreement, “Alright. We’re even then.”  
  
The mercreature, looking rather pleased with himself, wiggled his way a bit further onto the deck. Moving closer towards the captain, though still leaving several feet between them, he hauled the bulkiest part of his tail upon the deck. It was hard work keeping himself up the way he’d been clinging to the haul without anything to support his lower body, but the pirate didn’t seem too malevolent towards him, so he deemed it safe enough.  
  
Grimmjow watched him, again smiling at the awkward way the creature maneuvered over the deck. As the merman half slithered, half dragged himself closer, all those barbed fins contracted, folding and flattening against his body, making him more streamline. It seemed a natural thing, a way to limit the resistance of what would normally be dense water as the creature swam. In the open air, upon dry wood, it wasn’t as helpful but it was still interesting.  
  
Straightening his arms, Ichigo pushed his top half off the ground, bringing his features more level with the human sitting nearly within arms reach now. He didn’t extend a hand or anything, but he inclined his head slightly, in friendly greeting, “My name’s Ichigo, by the way.”  
  
The pirate captain mimicked the slight motion with a smirk, “Grimmjow.”  
  
They spent nearly another hour getting to know each other, sitting upon the deck of the captain’s ship, before Ichigo confessed that he really needed to return to the water. While he could breath air and he could leave the water for several hours at a time, it was still hard on him. Grimmjow agreed that he should have been sleeping anyway, in preparation for captaining his crew with the rising of the sun, and so they called it a night and Grimmjow climbed to his feet as he watched the mercreature push himself backward, back under the railing, before disappearing from the side of the ship.  
  
After Ichigo let go, Grimmjow couldn’t help but take the few short steps to the railing. He peered over to watch the creature enter the water much more gracefully this time than last. After a moment, as he was just about to turn from the railing and return below deck, Ichigo broke the surface again and waved up at him. Grimmjow laughed, and half saluted back, before they officially parted ways.  
  
There was no discussion of it, but they both knew they’d not seen the last of each other.  
  
That day, the man’s crew joked that he must have sneaked one of the slave wenches into his cabin that night because it looked like he’d slept even less than usual. Grimmjow laughed it off, rolling with the good natured jabs and said nothing of his strange visitor. Later, as the crew was busy navigating his ship and fulfilling their duties, he went below deck to their stores and found a length of spare rope used for rigging. Nearly as thick as his forearm, it would be beyond strong enough to hold someone’s weight. He coiled it up, threw it over one broad shoulder, and lugged it up from below deck and across the ship’s breadth. Near where he’d met with the mercreature the previous night, he tied one end around the sturdy railing, making sure it was secure, then kicked the rest of the bundled length under the rail so that it fell over the edge and would hang down the side of his ship. The end didn’t quite reach the waterline, short by a few feet, but he figured it would be easy enough to reach, and probably easier to climb than the side of haul.  
  
That night, after the sun had set below the horizon and the waters began cooling off with the loss, Ichigo circled the ship, cutting through the water with graceful ease. He wondered if it would be wise of him to return and meet with the human again. He knew they could be dangerous creatures, especially while not in the water, but he felt no threat from the captain. When he broke the surface to look up the hulking side of the ship, he was pleasantly surprised to find a rope hanging nearby. A tug on it assured it was secured and hadn’t been an accident. He smiled at the obvious invitation and decided another talk with his new friend couldn’t hurt.  
  
Grimmjow was waiting for him, half asleep and slumped against the railing a few feet down ship from where he’d tied the rope. Like the night before, he’d left his weapons sit in a pile out of his reach, but within view of the railing so that the mercreature would see he was unarmed.  
  
Surprisingly quiet for a literal fish out of water, Ichigo wiggled his way far enough upon the deck to make himself comfortable, so that his upper body and the thickest part of his tail was settled upon smooth wood, then paused as he looked the resting pirate over.   
  
Long legs were splayed out before the man and his head was tilted back, leaning against the bars of the railing. Long fingered hands rested in the man’s lap and his body moved so naturally, so comfortably, with the gentle swells and motion of the rocking ship. His handsome features were turned toward Ichigo just slightly, like the man had nodded off while waiting for Ichigo’s arrival.  
  
Smiling an almost mischievous expression, Ichigo observed the human for a moment more, than flicked his tail out toward the man, fins opened, and sprayed the captain in a fine showering of cold droplets of ocean water.  
  
Grimmjow startled from his light sleep and nearly scrambled upright, before his eyes landed on a laughing mercreature. Grunting, he settled back against the railing and used one hand to wipe dry the back and side of his neck. “Ha ha.” He said dryly, “Real funny.”  
  
“I thought so.” Ichigo chuckled as he propped an elbow upon the deck and rested his chin in his fist. “I’m sorry, it was kind of mean of me…” But there was still a smile on his features.  
  
The captain rolled his eyes, but smirked and waved it off. Shifting so his legs were crossed under him, he pulled open one side of his heavy coat and from an inside pouch, pulled forth a silver flask. Untwisting the cap, he tilted it to his lips and took a swallow. From the corner of his eye, he took note of the skeptical curiosity that lit the mercreature’s features. He sighed at the flavor and the burn, and pulled started to recap it, “Only the best for the captain,” he commented, then eyed Ichigo and thought better of twisting the cap back on. Instead, he held the silver container out to the creature in offering and arched his brows a bit.  
  
Nostrils flaring slightly, Ichigo sniffed at the pungent, toxic scent wafting from the flask and curled his lip.  
  
“Just try it.” Grimmjow prompted, an amused smirk slanting his lips.  
  
“It smells awful…” Ichigo frowned, but extended his free hand and tentatively wrapped clawed fingers around the silver container.  
  
“It takes some getting used to, I guess,” Grimmjow shrugged, dropping his hands back to his lap as he watched, “But I’d rather drown in that than in sea water.”  
  
Ichigo shot him a skeptical look and brought the flask under his nose. He gagged at the smell, but tilted his head back for a small taste. At his side, the pirate erupted in deep laughter as he choked on the burning liquid and accidentally spit it all over the ship’s deck. He almost forcefully shoved the canister back toward the pirate as he coughed, his handsome features scrunched in distaste.  
  
Laughing, Grimmjow accepted the flash, took another swallow, and finally put the cap back on before tucking it away in his coat again.  
  
“Oh it’s terrible! How do you drink that??” Ichigo shook his head, honestly contemplating a dip in the ocean just to chase the lingering taste away.  
  
“It’s as I said; takes some getting used to.” The human chuckled.  
  
The next night, he brought with him something different from the ship’s stores. Everything alcoholic the merman tried ended up right back on the deck or in the glass and Grimmjow decided Ichigo just wasn’t going to make a good drinking partner. Instead, he started bringing various foods with him. Ichigo could take one sniff of anything from the sea and tell Grimmjow exactly what it was, no matter how it had been dried and prepared. It turned out that Ichigo had absolutely no interest in any of the fruits or vegetables kept onboard to be eaten by the crew, but anything else Grimmjow brought him to try went over well. It didn’t take long for the captain to realize he was strictly carnivorous, which he supposed he should have realized after seeing his teeth and claws.  
  
Soon enough, the captain was skipping dinner in his cabin and waiting until after his crew had retired for the night. Sitting against the railing, he would take his evening meal in the company of the merman he’d befriended. Ichigo would occasionally accept a bite or two of whatever the captain offered him, but he always assured the man he did all his hunting in the ocean throughout the day and was well fed.  
  
In the coming days, the two grew closer and more comfortable with each other. The original mistrust between them all but disappeared. No longer did the captain strip himself of his customary weaponry. In fact, he didn’t even think to do it, and Ichigo didn’t seem to really notice or worry that the man was armed and seated next to him. The space they had purposefully left to linger between them dwindled by the hour, until they sat side by side in comfort every night.  
  
Eventually, it went forgotten that they were two different species. That they probably should have been enemies. Ichigo had always seen humans as cruel, nasty creatures better suited as a quick, easy meal or entertainment than as decent company and Grimmjow had always assumed mercreatures were just tails, made up in the dark of night to keep children and lesser sailors alike from misbehaving while on ships and boats and docks.  
  
“I used to think your kind fictitious.” Grimmjow chuckled one evening. He shook his head a bit, blue eyes flashing in Ichigo’s direction, before coasting out to pan over the star littered horizon. Below where he and Ichigo sat upon the deck, his crew slept after a long day at sea.  
  
Ichigo snorted and shot the captain an almost mischievous look. “That’s what my kind wants your kind to think.” Then he followed the man’s gaze outward and tilted his head fractionally, “You explained what pirates are to me, but you never explained why… Why are you a pirate, Captain? Why not work on an imperial ship? Or on dry land where it’s safer for your kind?”  
  
Grimmjow shrugged, “I’ve never much liked dry land. It’s too…solid, too set in stone and confining. Out here,” He swept an arm out, motioning around them at the endlessness of the water surrounding them, “no one tells me what I can and cannot do. I work together with my crew and the only higher being we have to obey is the ocean.”  
  
A comfortable quiet settled between them for a while, nothing but the gentle lapping of the ocean against Grimmjow’s beloved ship. Then Ichigo scooted his way back under the railing, so that the bulk of his tail hung from the edge of the ship and he smiled at Grimmjow. “I’ve never met a man like you, Grimmjow, would that more humans could be this way.”  
  
The pirate captain grinned and nodded his agreement, “The world would be a much freer place, I think.”  
  
“Indeed.” Ichigo agreed, then glanced backward a bit and down at the water below, “…I’m growing uncomfortable, but I cherish our time… ” He confessed, having been out of the water for too many hours now, “Swim with me for a short while?”  
  
Blue brows arched as Grimmjow glanced over at the merman with something of a smirk, “You are truly a merman, yes? And not a siren?”  
  
Ichigo laughed, “Oh Captain, I assure you that I do not sing, nor have I any more intentions of drowning you. I’ve grown quite fond of you as you are.”  
  
Grimmjow laughed and inclined his head, then held out a hand toward the railing of his ship and beyond in invitation, “After you,” He said, “But don’t make fun of me for not being as water savvy as a fish like you.”  
  
Smiling a pretty expression, Ichigo shook his head, but used his arms to push himself the rest of the way from the railing. He dropped overboard like it was hardly even an intimidating thing and landed in the water with barely a splash.  
  
Grimmjow watched him slip below the surface as he climbed to his feet, then shrugged from his coat and his boots, setting them aside neatly upon the deck, and climbed over the railing. He waited until he saw Ichigo break the surface again, then took a deep breath, and stepped off the slim, outer space between the railing and open air. He dropped from the ship and entered the water feet first, as streamline as was possible for a human.  
  
It took him a few long seconds to make it back to the surface, but he was an experienced swimmer and seaman. His movements were long and surprisingly graceful, calm even immersed in a foreign world.  
  
Ichigo watched him swim back to the surface, watched the way strong muscle slid below smooth, suntanned flesh. He swam close, circled the human in his domain, but it wasn’t a predatory or even taunting motion. When Grimmjow reached the surface and took that first deep breath of air, Ichigo slowly broke the surface again as well, to hover at the man’s side. Only half of his features were visible as he floated low in the water, letting the cool, enlivening substance slide through his gills and fill his lungs with living oxygen.  
  
Sweeping a hand back through his now wet hair, so that it fell backwards and out of his face, Grimmjow glanced at him, then dropped his hand and swept it out towards the merman, sending a spray of cool water at the creature. Ichigo laughed, flashing wicked teeth, and sunk below the surface again.  
  
The captain spun a slow circle, arms out and feet kicking in easy, slow motions to help keep him afloat as he searched for the creature. Despite how their first meeting had gone, being in deep water around the merman didn’t make him nervous. It was oddly comforting, like all the things that would normally pose a threat to him were nulled.   
  
Below the surface, a smooth, almost leathery fin glanced across the back of his legs and the pirate grunted a laugh. Just like before, there was a playful nature to it, only this time there was no danger of being ripped to pieces and dragged out to sea. Filling his lungs with a deep breath of air, he pushed his arms to his sides and ducked below the water’s surface.  
  
He found Ichigo barely six inches in front of his face, a wide, amused smile on boyishly handsome features. In the darkness of the water, the creature’s eyes flashed like a cat’s, taking on a milky color while Ichigo’s clear, second lens protected his eyes from the salt water. Whereas he looked a little on the awkward, clumsy side while on Grimmjow’s ship, in the water, Ichigo was streamline and graceful. The water fluttered against his elegant fins and fanned his long mane of orange hair out around his features. It wrapped around him like a warm embrace. He was beautiful.  
  
Grimmjow spent as long underwater as he could, simply hovering there, taking in all the little details of Ichigo’s person that didn’t stand out quite so well while he was above water; the gilded shimmer of his tail, the intricate patterns that worked through the rich colors, the way he moved, the way his gils alternated as he breathed, the minuscule bubbles that floated to the surface on his exhales. The captain stayed there until his lungs burned, until his chest ached for breath, before he finally resurfaced.  
  
When he did, he reached the surface and took a blessedly fresh breath, only to hear shouting. Blue brows furrowed as he spun round to find his ship, then looked up.  
  
Looking back down at him, his lookout leaned over the railing, shouting for help, “Man overboard!” He called to the rest of the crew, “Captain! Hang on, Cap’ain, we got a rope on the way!”  
  
Confused, Grimmjow shook his head and frowned, than realized Ichigo was at his side and likely had no idea what was going on. With a muttered curse, he shoved a hand back under the water and shook it in an urgent staying motion, trying to tell the creature to stay where he was, stay down where the crew wouldn’t see him. Stay out of view where he was safe.  
  
“No! No, D-roy, I’m fine!” He called back up. Surprisingly warm fingers interlocked with his below the water and he tried not to jolt from the unexpectedness of contact he’d not yet had with the merman. He couldn’t quite keep his eyes from widening, though, when a gentle pulse of water, like an exhaled breath, flushed against his abdomen. In the dark, he hoped his lookout couldn’t see his expression, “J-just thought it was a good time for a swim.” He sheepishly explained to the man above as his hand pulled free and settled on the shoulder of the one below.  
  
Gentle fingertips danced a not so random pattern across his chest, clear down to his hip and the pirate captain shuttered in the water as claws oh so carefully followed the marks scarred across his body. As his feet swayed in the water, keeping him from sinking below the surface, his bare skin brushed leathery tail fins. Then a slim but muscular appendage wrapped clean around the backs of his legs and he sank lower in the water for a moment, mildly startled, before he realized it was Ichigo’s tale and the creature was taking part of his weight to make staying afloat easier.  
  
“In the middle a the night?” D-roy called down, the skepticism and confusion obvious in his voice as he leaned over the railing and looked down at his captain. It was no secret that the ocean called to their captain, but still… this seemed a little extreme, even for Grimmjow. “How’d you plan to get back up here?”  
  
Grimmjow pointed, “Come now, D-roy. Take me for a complete fool, do you? I’ve already got a rope tied and ready for climbing when I’m done.”  
  
The younger lad glanced over, sharp eyes catching the knotted rope tied to the railing. He shook his head, “Is this what you been doin’ up here every night, cap’ain? Swimming?”  
  
“Some nights.” Grimmjow lied, ignoring the warmth of the body wrapped around his below the cool water. “Go get some rest, D. We need those eyes of yours sharp for lookout in the morn.”  
  
Now that his panic and startlement at finding his captain overboard had settled, D-roy reached up and rubbed at one eye as he sighed. “Aye, cap’ain. You’ll be alright out here on your own?”  
  
“Course I will.”  
  
D-roy didn’t say anything more, merely swiping an almost irritated, dismissing hand through the air toward the captain, and turned from the railing. When he’d disappeared from sight, Grimmjow’s other hand shot through the water to find Ichigo’s other shoulder as he half tugged, trying to get the merman to surface again.  
  
Ichigo did so slowly, first peeking above the surface before swimming high enough that he could speak. He glanced around, eyeing the ship’s length carefully. “Your crew cares a great deal for you.”  
  
“I pay them handsomely.” Grimmjow replied.  
  
“It’s more than that.” Ichigo arched a brow at the captain.   
  
Grimmjow shrugged, a lopsided smirk tugging at his handsome features, “We’re all the family we got.”  
  
Ichigo smiled at that, nodded a small motion. Then, below the surface of the water, his fingers found the scars running the length of Grimmjow’s torso again and his smile faded, “I did this…”  
  
“Yeah,” The man didn’t try to deny it, nor brush it off. The hands that were so gentle against him now were capable of being truly vicious. “tore me up pretty good.”  
  
Expressive, big brown eyes turned downward, unable to meet the captain’s gaze. In a whisper, Ichigo admitted, “You are the first human to survive my attacks…the first I set out to kill and eat, and did not… I’m glad for that.”  
  
Still half supported in the water by the merman’s powerful tail wrapped around his legs, Grimmjow covered Ichigo’s hand against his chest with one of his own. He ran the fingers of his other hand through bright orange, shoulder length locks. When boyish features edged back towards his again, he smirked. “Wasn’t the first mark upon my body and it wont be the last.” He assured.  
  
It wasn’t long after that Grimmjow had to end his swim, the water beginning to get too cold for him. Ichigo seemed impervious to the chill. He slid silently through the water at Grimmjow’s side as the captain made his way to the side of his ship and grabbed the rope he’d left for Ichigo’s convenance. He bid the merman goodnight, then they parted ways; Grimmjow back to his own world and Ichigo hidden deep below in his.  
  
That morning, when Grimmjow climbed from his rack only a few short hours after having gone to bed, he was faced with amused and exasperated jabs from his crew about midnight swims and mythical siren lovers. He took it all in stride and they went about their day, taking care of and manning his ship during a long day of hard work and travel.  
  
Eventually they made port at their destination and Grimmjow put his first mate in charge of selling his portion of the riches they’d collected. The money gained was, as usual, put towards taking care of his ship and commissioning the larger repairs he couldn’t do on his own.  
  
From offshore, Ichigo watched as the captain directed his crew and the team hired to make repairs. Being closer to land, where the water was shallow and the sandy bottom was visible through clean, clear water, he had to be more careful than while in open seas.  
  
In the evenings of the few days they spent at port, Grimmjow would wade out into the shallows. His crew wasn’t surprised, though after the last time when he’d been attacked by something unseen, they’d been leery at first.  
  
“Careful, Grimmjow,” Shawlong would warn from shore as he watched his captain, “D says he thought he saw something big swimming through the surf earlier.”  
  
Grimmjow tugged his shirt over his head, tossing it back at the tall man so it could be dropped with his boots and the majority of the other things he’d had on his person. He chuckled and waved off his first mate’s concern. “I’ve never been attacked by a shark, Shaw, not going to happen now.”  
  
The slim man shook his head, “Said big, didn’t say shark.”  
  
“That’s what this is for.” The captain patted the dagger at his hip and sent the first mate a wicked grin, though he knew he wouldn’t need it. Even if it wasn’t Ichigo his lookout had managed to spot, the mercreature’s presence was a predatory one. Anything else out for the captain’s blood would surely flee when Ichigo drifted into the area.  
  
Of course, there was no arguing with the stubborn captain, so his first mate assured that there would be a few men on the ship nearby if the captain needed anything, then took his leave and left Grimmjow to his own devices.  
  
Grimmjow waded out until the water lapped at his hips. After only a few minutes of being out there, he didn’t catch sight of his friend, but he felt the familiar, playful glide of fins against his shins. Smirking, he took a deep breath and in the same motion, dropped to sink below the water and sit crosslegged on the sandy bottom below his feet.  
  
Ichigo flashed an excited circle around him, then pulled up to float in the water before his face, mere inches away. His clawed hands settled surprisingly gently against his knees, keeping the subtle current from tugging him away from the human. Grimmjow half chuckled soundless amusement and Ichigo flashed a sharp toothed grin at him.  
  
It was a short lived moment, of course, and Grimmjow patted Ichigo’s hands when he needed air. The mercreature readily released him and watched the man rise. He followed as far as the surface of the water, but paused before breeching. Flipping so that he floated on his back just below the surface, he looked up through the shimmering, darkening water at the man.  
  
A curious frown tugged at the captain’s features as he stood in the water, looking down at the creature. The long tail half coiled around him was becoming so second nature that he hardly even noticed it anymore. “You can hear me?” He asked, his voice an average volume as if he spoke to someone standing at his side.  
  
Ichigo nodded, despite being below the water’s surface.  
  
“Can you speak while underwater?”  
  
“Of course.” Ichigo laughed, a flutter of tiny bubbles following his words and his laugh. His muffled voice just barely reached the captain and the amused look on Grimmjow’s face told him that, so he reached out of the water to grab hold of the man’s wrist and tugged, giving the captain just long enough to take a breath before he brought the man under with him.  
  
Underwater again, Grimmjow arched a brow in question.  
  
“The sound carries better down here.” Ichigo explained with a shrug. His voice took on a bit of a distorted ring, but was still easily understood. “But yes, of course I can speak while below. What good lungs that can breathe underwater if I cannot actually function underwater?”  
  
The captain shrugged, a smirk on his handsome features, and motioned toward the sea creature as he conceded Ichigo’s point. Then he resurfaced again, in need of air.  
  
Later that night, after the sun had sank below the horizon, Grimmjow waded back toward shore, Ichigo swimming at his side in easy, smooth motions. When he’d made it to about knee deep and Ichigo had to begin using his hands to pull himself through the shallow water, the captain lowered himself to sit in the water, letting it lap gently against his chest.  
  
Ichigo happily joined him, twisting so that he half sat, half laid in the clear shallows. Had someone been on shore throughout the night, they would have simply seen two men sitting in warm, shallow ocean water.  
  
As with their other nights together, they mostly spoke of idol things. Grimmjow recounted valiant tales of battles at sea, of massive ships and artillery and glinting swords. He told Ichigo about simple things too, like what human villages were like and markets, but he always went back to stories of adventures at sea and upon his ship.  
  
The mercreature listened with a pleased fervor, excited to hear more and ask about the things he didn’t understand. He told stories of his own, about others of his kind and how they didn’t hold such a tight knit community like the humans. He told the captain about great underwater places he’d been; coves and shipwrecks and reefs, as well as some of the other terrifying creatures that could be found in places like that. At one point he lifted the lower half of his tail from the water to show off the scars left behind by a particularly large, aggressive squid. It was clear he had no desire to ever meet with another one again.  
  
Seated comfortably in the water, Grimmjow listened to the recounted tales as happily as Ichigo had. He truly enjoyed the merman’s company and looked forward to his nightly visits as much so as he looked forward to going back out to sea.   
  
Something occurred to him then and he frowned a bit as he looked over, “Why do you follow my ship, Ichigo?”  
  
He’d realized quite some time ago that mercreatures were mostly solitary and apparently claimed vast, roaming territories as their own. But even so, Grimmjow had sailed half way around the world and still Ichigo had followed.  
  
Ichigo shrugged, claws idly digging furrows through the sand below him. The subtle waves and currents of the water smoothed them over and he started again. “Mostly out of curiosity at first,” he admitted, then let a wide, almost playful smile stretch across his features and turned over so that he very nearly ended up in Grimmjow’s lap as he looked at the captain, “Now, because I enjoy the company of sailor that happens to be on the ship.”  
  
Grimmjow barked a laugh and trailed his fingers along the creature’s jawline, “Never until now have I met a man that held my attention so well as the sea.”  
  
Using one hand to support his weight against the sea’s bottom on one side of Grimmjow’s waist, Ichigo lifted his other hand and covered the human’s against the side of his neck. He wasn’t unconscious of the way Grimmjow purposefully avoided the slits along his throat and he was appreciative of that. “Well, Captain, I’m a bit of both, so it’s only natural.”  
  
The man laughed again, but the rich, rumbling sound Ichigo had grown fond of was cut short by warm lips and a rush of cool water.  
  
Grimmjow’s hands shot to Ichigo’s shoulder’s, than worked up through the merman’s wild mane of hair as he stared wide eyed at the creature, breath held as he slowly sank the rest of the way back and to the bottom of the shallows.  
  
Ichigo pulled back just long enough to whisper in the water, “Nor have I, Grimmjow, never have I met a man like you.” The rush of tumbling words was short lived as the mercreature reconnected their lips in another heated kiss.  
  
Taken off guard at first, Grimmjow was recovering now, and returned the second attempt. Laying against the soft, sandy bottom of the ocean, he kissed a creature that wasn’t human like his very life depended upon it, hands fisted tight in orange hair. Ichigo half laid across him, his long, powerful tail pointed towards deeper water and resting between the captain’s spread, bent knees.  
  
They only parted when Grimmjow needed air. When he broke the surface half choking, Ichigo eased his way up as well, a sheepish expression on his features and the hint of a red flush as well. Still below the water and laying against one of the captain’s legs, a brighter, more vivid purple bled and swirled through the normally deep violet of his tail. His barbed dorsal fin was arched high, the tips of the longer spines poking out through the water’s surface, but it was more in alertness than it was aggression.  
  
“Uh… I’m..sorry…” Ichigo awkwardly muttered, and started to use his hands to push himself backwards and out of the pirate captain’s lap.  
  
Still looking mildly taken aback and still attempting to catch his fled breath, Grimmjow looked upon the creature before him with a slightly widened gaze. He reached up and very carefully traced his fingertips against his own lips, as if searching for proof that Ichigo’s had been there a moment ago.  
  
He must have found what he’d been searching for, because a moment later, before Ichigo could pull away completely, he leaned forward and hooked his fingers under the merman’s chin. Halting Ichigo’s leaving, he sealed their lips again in a heated kiss. “Don’t be.” He breathed before swiping his tongue along Ichigo’s bottom lip and tasting salt. “-just-” He kissed the creature again, a smirk working its way across his handsome features, “-don’t drown me.”  
  
Ichigo laughed into the next kiss, his caudal fin flourishing happily in the water. He pulled up against the big man’s chest again and, as strong arms wrapped tight around his ribcage, just under his arms, he reached up and used both hands to smooth wet, chaotic blue hair back and out of the human’s face. “I’ll try to remember.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad to be done with this. The more I look at it, the more I hate it and I honestly don't think I can spend another day on it. I've struggled so much with the last third of this chapter, which is ridiculous because it's all perfectly within my element :\ But whatever. The first half is alright, I guess, so try to enjoy.

After the ship was resupplied and all the loot the crew had collected from the imperial ship they’d ransacked was sold or traded, Grimmjow stood at the helm and worked with his men as they navigated the large, imposing ship from where they’d made port. It was tempting to stay docked longer, where Grimmjow’s and Ichigo’s worlds converged and where the two could meet in comfort, but the pirate captain was most happy while plying the seas, listening to no greater authority than himself and the ocean and Ichigo was happy enough to follow him.  
  
It didn’t take the pirate and the merman long to fall into their habit of nightly visits upon the deck of Grimmjow’s ship. Just as before they’d made land, Ichigo would wait for nightfall, then climb his way up the side of the haul, slip below the railing, and wait for Grimmjow to come out and meet him.  
  
One warm night, as Grimmjow was finishing off his evening meal and the two spoke of idol things, the captain began noticing the way Ichigo’s ever curious gaze would roam the deck of his ship. Of course he’d noticed early in their interactions that the sea creature was a very curious young man, despite that he was apparently older than Grimmjow himself. But it wasn’t until that night that it occurred to Grimmjow that Ichigo had probably never really seen much about a human’s everyday life. The closest thing to glimpsing a human’s personal life was probably the shipwrecks he’d happened upon, submerged deep below the ocean’s surface and half buried at the sandy bottom.  
  
Setting aside his plate and utensils, Grimmjow climbed to his feet. Planting his hands on his hips for a moment, he paused and looked down at the merman with an appraising gaze. The mercreature looked up at him with slightly widened eyes, curious, but not mistrusting the way he’d once been.  
  
“Ichigo?” Grimmjow started, smiling a bit as he knelt down on his haunches in front of the creature, “How would you like to see the rest of my ship?”  
  
Ichigo’s features lit up excitedly, before draining almost instantly. “I would quite like that… but alas,” He flipped his tail up onto the deck and wiggled his fins, something of disappointed smile tugging at his lips, “unless you plan on sinking your beloved ship, I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.”  
  
Grimmjow chuckled and grinned like he knew something Ichigo didn’t, than stooped closer, “Don’t flay me alive with those claws, got it?” Without waiting for an answer and with no further warning given, he slipped one strong arm around Ichigo’s shoulders and the other under the mercreature’s tale. He grunted as he straightened, pulling the lad from the deck of his ship with him and cradling Ichigo against his body.  
  
Water that seemed to permanently dampen Ichigo’s skin wetted the captain’s shirt and drip down his arms. It was cool against the warmth of his skin. The mercreature’s body was roped with lean but powerful muscle to aid him as he swam through the ocean and he wasn’t so surprised to find that Ichigo was incredibly solid, and heavier than he looked. Despite that his stature and build was less broad than Grimmjow himself, Ichigo was longer than the human was tall, by a couple feet at least.   
  
Ichigo yelped a startled sound, arms flying around Grimmjow’s neck to cling to the pirate as his weight left the sturdy deck. Wide, surprised eyes flashed up to the pirate’s features and he consciously loosened the tight hold his claws had caught against the man’s thick sailing coat.  
  
The captain merely chuckled, giving the creature a moment to relax, before he turned from the railing and headed across the deck, toward the entrance that led below. The crew rested after a day of hard labor and a late night of drinking, and the cabin was quiet as Grimmjow navigated the creaky, wooden stairs. When he made it to the base, he peeked around a doorframe, before hurrying past the shared quarters that held the bunks of his crew.  
  
A door marked the end of the short corridor and he backed his way through it, shouldering the unlatched portal open. Once through, he nudged it shut behind them with the toe of his boot, then paused, shifting Ichigo’s weight.  
  
In his arms, the creature was silent. The corded muscle of his shoulder blades rippled against Grimmjow’s arm as he twisted to look around them. Intelligent, sharp brown eyes took in everything there was to see.  
  
As was to be expected of a ship, the walls, ceiling and floor was all made of wood. All of it was polished by years of care, years of handling, and weathered by years of use. A large -but not unnecessarily so- table sat pushed against one wall, doubling as a desk of sorts. An old but intricately carved lamp of silver sat upon its top. The flame was lit, letting warm light dance around the space. It glinted off the captain’s sword, where the weapon had been left to rest against the table’s edge, and lit up a small stack of blank paper. A heavy quill pen sat upon the stack, a closed jar of ink near by.  
  
On the opposite side of the room was the captain’s bunk. Unlike those his crew slept in, it was a single, not stacked, and was clearly meant for someone of higher standing. Rich, silk sheets lay sleep rumpled upon the mattress’s foot. Upon a low chest of drawers at the bed’s side, pushed up against the wall that cornered around the side and foot of the bed, a few of the captain’s personal belongings sat; pendants, a pouch of coins, the white feather of a sea-fairing bird.  
  
“It’s not much,” Grimmjow said, his voice quiet in the silence below deck. The rest of his crew slept and it seemed best to keep it that way. He loved his crew as if one and all were brothers, but Ichigo was vulnerable above the water’s surface and they were pirates, after all, humans meaner and more inclined towards violence than even normal people.   
  
He moved to carefully settle Ichigo’s weight upon the bed, where the merman would have room to more comfortably settle since sitting in the conventional sense didn’t go well with his anatomy. “but it’s home.”  
  
“No, it’s wonderful.” Ichigo half breathed, as if in awe. Somewhat awkwardly, he maneuvered upon the plush mattress so that he could push his arms underneath of himself and push his upper body more upright. The pirate captain’s weight dipped the mattress at his side as Ichigo looked around the small room and as if unconsciously, his long, powerful tail slowly coiled around the man’s side, barbed fins carefully kept closed so as to not harm the human.  
  
Grunting an amused sound, Grimmjow let his hands settle on the odd, leathery appendage. He ran his fingertips over the barely there overlapping of flexible scales, traced the subtle, swirling pattern of rich colors and watched the way the warm light of his lamp flickered golden and shimmering over the merman’s tail. Until then, he’d only seen the lower half of the creature from afar, or underwater. Ichigo hadn’t been shy about it, nor about letting it wound around the pirate on a few occasions before, but nor had he really ever done so above the water.  
  
When his attention made it to the second dorsal fin that ran along the back of the merman’s curled tail, leading down toward the wide caudal fin, Grimmjow very carefully trailed his fingers over the rigid edge, where it was folded nearly flat so that the sharp spines didn’t protrude. To his surprise, the fin -shorter than Ichigo’s other dorsal fin and much less showy than his caudal fin- automatically snapped open with his touch, like an elastic band.  
  
He jerked his hand back, having little desire to find out what the wicked, aggressive barbs felt like, than glanced up as Ichigo shifted.  
  
The merman half rolled over, so that he laid out on his back. He propped his elbows up below himself, so he could lift his upper half and look down his length toward the captain. Fiery, orange hair cascaded over muscled shoulders, hanging down the merman’s back. The slitted pupils of his almost serpentine eyes were dilated, making the brown look dark and lively, but he said nothing, so Grimmjow went back to his curious study of the creature’s less human looking half.  
  
Looking back down to the low ridge of flexible fin, he gently ran a finger along the membrane between the cartilage that held it open. It was surprisingly soft, silken, almost, like it would tear if he dug his fingers in but Ichigo seemed to have no reservations about his touch, so he assumed that either it was sturdier than it seemed, or the creature trusted him greatly.  
  
As his touch wandered upward, coasting over smooth, muscular tail towards where it began to thicken, the broad, elegant caudal fin fluttered slightly and the thinner end of Ichigo’s tail coiled tighter, so that the fin settled in Grimmjow’s lap. It splayed wide, but not forcefully or rigidly so. Opened, it was nearly as wide as Grimmjow’s legs were long and one half hung over the edge of the bed to drape over the man’s bent knees like a blanket.  
  
“Am I bothering you?” Grimmjow asked quietly, his deep voice a little on the hoarse side. He didn’t pull his flattened palm from the smooth underside of the merman’s tail, though. There was an ever present wetness to it, slick like they still sat underwater, but it was warm and not slimy the way a fish was. “Should I stop?”  
  
There was a slight hesitation to Ichigo’s voice as he shifted his weight, “No…just-” He trailed off, cut short, as the burning temperature of the pirate’s hand glided upward another inch, exploring the texture and structure of his tail. Involuntarily, his tail coiled even tighter around the human’s waist. Swallowing as he studied the man’s handsome features, he caught the slight upward tilt to Grimmjow’s lips.  
  
He knew the captain couldn’t know what was happening. He knew the man was merely indulging his curiosity. But the merman’s reactions were automatic, ingrained and instinctive. It wasn’t something he could exactly ignore, though he did his best to. He also knew that he should probably put a halt to Grimmjow’s exploring, but heat flooded through his body and he couldn’t quite bring himself to do so. His tail coiled tighter, not quite harshly, locking around the pirate seated at his side, the way it would should Grimmjow have been another mercreature and should their have been a tide to pull two interlocked, mating sea creatures apart.  
  
The merman spoke up finally, as warm fingers splayed, worked upward, toward where the rich violets of his tail began to blend and bleed into the flesh color of his body. As those fingers found the spineless, flowing fins that lined the front of where his hips would have been had he legs, he finally reached out and settled his hands against Grimmjow’s, careful of how his claws pricked at tan skin.  
  
Grimmjow paused and looked up, letting his gaze slowly travel over tensed abdominal muscles, passed prominent clavicles, and finally to Ichigo’s features. He arched his brows in silent question, and watched the way handsome, boyish features flushed.  
  
“Uh…” Ichigo hesitated, “I know that you’re human, and…inexperienced in sea creature customs…but…”  
  
Before the merman could finish his awkward explanation, Grimmjow barked a laugh and leaned over. When they were nose to nose, he grinned that charming, devilish expression of his and said, “I know.” Leaned forward over Ichigo’s lithe body, he was nearly laying on the creature, but the well earned muscle of his arms and shoulders kept his weight off the lad. “I realized, and I’ll stop if you wish, but know first that it’s no accident.”  
  
Ichigo flushed brighter and an unconscious, excited swirl of brilliant red flashed through the deep violet of his tail. He swallowed and couldn’t seem to force words free, but he tentatively pulled his hands from over the human’s.  
  
It was all the answer Grimmjow needed. He closed the small space between them and it was his turn to take the merman by surprise. The pirate captain kissed him so fully, so hotly that for the first time in all his years, Ichigo knew what it felt like to drown.  
  
Unfortunately, all too soon Ichigo had to return to the ocean, unable to stand the dry air any longer. He was reluctant to go, enjoying this new found step forward in their growing relationship, but the pirate captain grinned and kissed his downturned lips until a happy, healthy flush had returned to the merman’s features.  
  
“You’ll be returning tomorrow night, yes?” Grimmjow asked, the smallest space possible lingering between them.  
  
Like it was the most obvious thing in all the wide world, Ichigo replied, “Of course.”  
  
Grimmjow kissed him again, much more chastely, and chuckled, “Then quit pouting.”  
  
An almost offended little sound escaped Ichigo’s lips, “I wasn’t-!” but it would be a lie and he knew it. He also knew Grimmjow to be only teasing, and so he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back and away from the man, “Hmph. I expect better accommodations next evening, you selfish pirate.”  
  
Grimmjow barked a laugh, but nodded, “I’ll see what I can put together, dear princess.”  
  
Ichigo shot him a glare and he laughed all the harder, before standing from the edge of the bed. He crossed the modest room to the door, and pushed it open to peek down the short hall that separated the captain’s quarters from the shared room of his sleeping crew. When all seemed quiet still, he went back to the bed and the merman laying there.  
  
As he bent to scoop up the creature he was quickly growing attached too, Ichigo wrapped strong arms around the back of his neck and half clung to him. Something of a frown settled upon his features, the expression thoughtful and maybe a bit regretful. Quietly, as Grimmjow walked them to the door, he asked, “Grimmjow? Why is it that I have to keep hidden from your crew?” The human had never really said as much to him, but it had been an implied, silent understanding between them since they’d befriended each other.  
  
A matching expression crossed the captain’s features, blue brows furrowing with an unhappy, disgruntled crease. He was quiet as he navigated the short corridor, careful to keep from scrapping the creature’s long tail against the harsh wood of the walls. His heavy boots were surprisingly quiet, his steps surefooted, as he worked his way up the narrow staircase sideways.  
  
Only when they were back upon the deck, shut away from the crew below, did he finally sigh as he crossed towards the railing of his ship. “Because… not all men are like me, Ichigo.” He shook his head a bit as he looked out at the lightening horizon, “I think perhaps my first mate might be skeptical at first, but come to accept you and your presence. Shaw’s been at my side for a long time now, D as well. But the others… I fear it wouldn’t go over well. Sailors are a superstitious lot, pirates included.” With another slight, regretful shake of his head, he eased himself to sit crosslegged on the deck, facing the railing and careful with the weight of the merman in his arms. He released Ichigo’s tail, letting the creature settle in his lap, and used his now free hand to push long, orange hair back from handsome features. A bit of a smile tugged at one corner of his lips, “Would that I could show you to the world, Ichigo.”  
  
“What do you think they would do? If they found out?”  
  
Grimmjow shrugged and made a face. His crew was loyal enough, at least while they thought their captain sane and strong, but still, they were pirates and outlaws one and all. “At best? Disagree and attempt to talk some sense into me. Maybe even desert once we made landfall. At worst? Mutiny here and now, and be done with us both.”  
  
“You think they would really do that?”  
  
Again, Grimmjow shrugged. “Some of them. There’s a few perhaps would stay loyal, if disapprove.” The man pushed a small smile back across his features, “But enough of that. We’ll make do and maybe in time I’ll be proven wrong.”  
  
“I hope that you are.” Ichigo half whispered, taking handsome, strong features between his hands.  
  
“As do I.” The pirate agreed, equally as quiet, as he looked upon his companion.  
  
Without further words, they parted ways and Ichigo eased himself from the pirate’s lap and over the side of the ship. Grimmjow climbed back to his feet as Ichigo disappeared below the surface of the water, and dragged himself back to his bunk. The small room seemed twice as bare as it ever had before.  
  
•••  
  
With the sun already high above, at nearly the midpoint of the day, the first mate and other close members of Captain Jaegerjaquez’s crew gathered round the helm as they navigated the ship, following a course that had been discussed and mapped out before they’d left port when last they’d been docked. D-roy was present, a scowl on his features as the lookout stood at the first mate’s side.   
  
The captain had yet to rise for the day and that was a rare thing. Troubling, even, with the way he’d been spending his nights as if gone mad. None could figure out what had so consumed the man that he would spend hour after hour, night after night, wandering the deck of his ship or swimming alone this far out to sea. But they all agreed that something wasn’t right. Captain Jaegerjaquez had always been a ruthless, determined, but grounded man. He’d always had a cold logic to him, all the features that made him a man worth following. Yet lately he’d been acting strangely and this morning he’d failed to rise and break fast with the rest of the crew like he usually did.  
  
“Cap’ian’s not been the same since his attack.” The lookout muttered, crossing his arms as he spoke, “I don’t know what’s gotten into ‘im. I found him swimmin’ alone the other night. He knows better than anyone how dangerous that is. The sea this far from shore ain’t for swimmin’. It’s to be respected.”  
  
There were vague nods and motions of agreement from the half a dozen men gathered round.  
  
“Think maybe infection’s set in?” One suggested, “Could be that he’s fevered. Certainly acting like it.”  
  
“No, no.” Another crewmen, the one to act as doctor when first the captain had been injured months ago, said with a shake of his head. “The wound’s long since healed and healed well. Had it somehow gone septic below the new skin it would have killed him by now. He’s strong and healthy again, in body, at least.”  
  
“I’m telling ya; siren.” One man whispered, looking about them like he feared who, or what, might be listening in, “Play too much with gods and they play back. The sea’s the worst of ‘em all. She don’t play nice.”  
  
“Think you that if it were a siren, more than just the captain would be gettin’ sang too? Sirens lure all men to their deaths.”  
  
D-roy grunted and cracked a crooked smile, “They only go for the handsome ones. You’re safe.”  
  
The man scowled at the lookout, “You callin’ me ugly?”  
  
“I’m callin’ you ugly.” D agreed, clapping the man on the shoulder, “Better to be ugly and safe than pretty and dead.”  
  
The few crewmen gathered laughed at that, until another spoke up, “Except that if it’s really a siren, it’s got our captain and we’re all gonna end up dead when it makes him sink his own ship.”  
  
A frown crossed Shawlong’s normally stoic features, “Never would Grimmjow harm his ship or his crew.”  
  
“Aye. Grimmjow wouldn’t. But a siren…?”  
  
D-roy crossed himself and shook his head. The entire group, hardy, sea-weathered men one and all, looked skittish. “Enough a this.” He hushed, “Shaw and I’ll talk to ‘im. The resta you keep your eyes open for anything untold. It’ll be upta us to make sure Grimmjow’s not gotten himself inta somethin’ he can’t get outta.”  
  
With agreeing nods, the group split up and went back to their stations to keep up with the demands of a sea worthy, battle hardened ship. Grimmjow climbed from his bunk almost an hour later and seemed displeased that he’d overslept.  
  
“Shoulda woken me, D.” The captain muttered as he made his way to the helm to check their progress and heading.  
  
The lookout slanted him a mostly unreadable look, “Ain’t been sleepin’ enough at night as it is, Cap’ian.”  
  
Grimmjow frowned, brow furrowing, and glanced at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
  
“Nothin’, Cap’ian.” The lookout shrugged, casting a sharp, appraising eye at the taller man. “Just that we been noticin’ your long nights.”  
  
The big man frowned all the harder and started as if he’d speak, then paused and glanced over his shoulder.  
  
From nearby, Shawlong crossed the deck and rested a long-fingered hand upon the mighty helm Grimmjow had taken his place at. “You no longer dine with the crew, Grimmjow, and you spend all night upon the deck-”  
  
A bright flash of panic worked its way through Grimmjow’s spine, followed closely by a rage that surely showed upon his handsome features. Had his most trusted men been spying on him? But if they had, surely Ichigo would have been discovered and even had they done nothing about the merman, something surely would have been said before then.  
  
“-We’ve given you your privacy, Captain, but the crew’s noticed. We all have.”  
  
“We’re startin’ ta wonder what’s goin’ on with you.” D-roy added. He started to cross his arms over his chest, then thought better of it and kept his stance neutral and easy. The crew was watching, even if it wasn’t openly, and there was no need to raise flags. Not yet. The last thing any of them wanted was a mutiny against the captain. “You understand pirates better ‘an anyone, Grimm. Some of ‘em’s been talkin’.”  
  
Grimmjow’s frown turned confused for half a second, then turned to complete bewilderment. “You think I’ve been bewitched!” He scoffed, like it was unthinkable. “Think you I’ve not guarded against such things? Think you I’d let something so foul happen to my ship? My crew? How long have you been sailing under me, D-roy?” He turned to look at his first mate, a displeased, unbelieving expression on his features, “Shawlong? Have the two of you learned nothing about me in all this time?” He shook his head, let a vicious sneer curl his lip, “My nights are mine. My days are mine, this ship, this crew- I’ll do as I please with all of it. Get back to your stations. If I hear whispers of this again, someone’s being cast off my ship and out of my sight. They can swim back to shore and consider themselves lucky.”  
  
D-roy and Shawlong stared for a moment, taken aback by the big man’s fiery temper, then the lookout cracked a crooked grin and shook his head. Half saluting, he said, “Aye, Cap’ian!” And swung about to continue his duties. “That’s our captain.” He added at half the volume as he walked away.  
  
It took Grimmjow a long time to settle down and his displeasure showed in his every move. The crew, from his closest friends down to the newest members who’s names he hardly even knew yet, could see just how unhappy he was about the whispered rumors circulating.  
  
He did his best to put an end to them right then and there, but of course, in the back of his mind, the captain knew there was some merit to them.  
  
Later that day, after he’d set things straight with his crew, Grimmjow went about attempting to come up with a solution to the problem of letting Ichigo come aboard more comfortably. His first thought was a wash basin of sorts, but he’d have to wait until making land again for something like that and landfall could be weeks, even months away.  
  
As he thought, he went below deck and strolled through the cargo hold, where crates and chests and barrels of supplies were lashed down. In the near lightlessness of the hold, he found his solution; a large chest nearly as long as he was tall. Ichigo, with his human upper body and long, slim tail, was of course much too long to stretch out in such a thing, but the chest would be deep enough to hold enough sea water for the mercreature to duck completely under if he wished, and if the way the merman always wrapped his tail about the captain was anything to go by, Ichigo was flexible enough to curl his tail a bit and let that be submerged as well.  
  
As Grimmjow decided it would work, at least temporarily, he remembered thinking it ludicrous to bring such a massive chest aboard. When loaded down with supplies, it’d taken four of his men to carry it across the deck and down the stairs, even with rollers under it to help them along.  
  
With a curious frown, he unlatched the top and pushed it open. The groan of straining, salt licked hinges and heavy wood filled the hold and Grimmjow grunted an amused, almost impressed sound as he looked down within to see shining metal.   
  
“No wonder the damn thing’s so heavy.” He half laughed, throwing the top back further and reaching within to pull out a shining, well crafted, sturdy new sword. It would seem trusting Shawlong with the portion of loot he was willing to spend had been a good choice. The large chest held enough new weaponry for nearly every crewman to trade out their old, worn equipment. All designed to defend his ship.  
  
It was quite the feat, and an impressive cache, to say the least, but then Grimmjow and Shawlong and the rest of the crew were pirates. Back alley contracts and under the table dealings were among their specialties.  
  
With a grin, the captain went about relocating the cache and finding a place within the ship’s small ‘armory’ for easy access should they find themselves under attack. Which they surely would, given that sea battles and looting was their entire goal on most voyages.  
  
It took him more than an hour to empty the massive chest; everything from new swords, to gunpowder, to ammo for the ship’s canons. When he was done and satisfied with the location of everything, he took a second look at the trunk. Bent over it, he ran his hands along the inside, feeling the smoothness of the treated wood with critical attention. He even went so far as to jog back up to the deck and fetch a bucket, then filled the bucket with sea water, before lugging it back below.  
  
The water was emptied into the chest and while it wasn’t nearly enough to fill it, Grimmjow watched carefully to insure that none leaked. He left it sit for another hour, going about his duties as captain, before returning below to again check the state of the trunk and the water within.  
  
Satisfied that the large chest was indeed water tight, he grinned to himself and let the lid drop shut with a sturdy bang. He’d remove the lid completely, but he’d worry about it later, after he solved his next problem.  
  
One tug upon the handle proved what he’d already assumed; he would never get it up from the hold, across the deck, and back down to where his private quarters were. He figured he could drag it to the stairwell if he had to, but he’d need help for the rest.  
  
Left with only one option, he trooped back upward and cast a glance around before heading toward the helm. As he’d expected, it was being manned by his first mate, which was exactly who he was searching for.  
  
“Shawlong!” There was an obvious upturn to his mood compared to earlier in the day, when he’d been confronted by rumors that may have been a bit more true than he’d like to admit. “Lock the helm. D can keep an eye on our course for a bit, I have need of your help.”  
  
The tall, lean man turned to him with a raised brow, but of course did as he was bid and followed behind his captain as the big man turned and headed across the deck. It was obvious by Grimmjow’s attitude and wording that nothing ill was underway, and so the first mate had little cause for worry. He followed the man down to the hold, a bit of curiosity bubbling in him, and stopped at Grimmjow’s side when the captain paused before a large chest.  
  
He gave the chest a once over, than glanced at the captain to find a shark grin on Grimmjow’s handsome features, aimed at him.  
  
Grimmjow moved to one end of the chest and wasn’t surprised when his first mate moved to the other end without prompt. “Help me get this to my quarters.” He bid, grasping the handle on his side.  
  
Shawlong followed suit and sent a small, skeptical expression across the chest. “Whatever could you possibly need something of this size for, Grimmjow?” Of course he recognized it, and knew after rapping his knuckles against the lid that it had been emptied out.  
  
“The bodies of traitorous men.” Grimmjow grunted as he hoisted. As his end lifted off the ground, his first mate did the same and they began working their way toward the stairwell. “In truth, I may have no need of it at all.” He admitted, a bit of strain showing in his deep voice. There was a mischievous smirk on his face, though and Shawlong arched dark brows at him. “Might be that it doesn’t serve the purpose I intend for it and you’ll have to help me drag it back down here all over again.”  
  
The climb up the short staircase wasn’t an easy thing. Grimmjow led the way, going first and backwards while Shawlong helped him. When they made it to the top, they dropped the chest and Grimmjow rested crossed arms upon its top as they paused for a moment.  
  
“Pray that it works, then.” The first mate replied with a slight shake of his head, “Else you’ll have to find someone else to help you. I’m too old for this, Captain.”  
  
Grimmjow barked a laugh and again snagged hold of the handle on his end. “Nonsense, Shaw. If I thought you too old, I’d have left you on dry land.”  
  
They half dragged, half carried the heavy trunk across the deck, much to the amusement and bewilderment of some of the crew that bore witness. Then came the task of lowering it down the second staircase that led towards the sleeping quarters of the crew and captain. Going down proved easier than up, and Grimmjow once more went first, backing down the stairs and mostly letting the chest’s weight do the work for him. He merely guided its speed and decent as it slid.  
  
Once the chest was through the door of the captain’s quarters, Grimmjow stood in the middle of the room and began working out where to put the damn thing. His quarters were small, but he had the room for it still.   
  
“Have you further need of me, Grimmjow?” Shawlong asked from the doorway, glancing about the room briefly.  
  
“No. Thanks, Shaw.”  
  
The first mate bowed slightly and took his leave.  
  
Grimmjow spent the rest of his evening moving the contents of his room around. Everything but the bed, which was built into the room, found a new place. When that was done, he started to wrench the hinges from the trunk, so that the lid could be removed entirely, before thinking better of it. It was a rare thing for someone other than himself to enter his room without express permission. Even so, he decided it might be convenient to be able to shut the trunk and keep its contents, or lack there of, hidden.  
  
When he was done and when the time came, he joined his crew for that evening’s meal. Captain and crew alike sat around, eating and drinking their fill, as they celebrated a day survived doing what they all loved. Grimmjow took his leave of the communal meal after the sun had already long since sank below the horizon and half his crew had retired for the evening.   
  
As he trooped up onto the deck of his beloved ship, his steps in tune with the rock of the sea, he breathed deep the scent of wide open skies, deep water and salt. He took his time in crossing the deck to the railing, but even in the dark, he could make out the shape of strong shoulders and the coil of long, flexible tail.  
  
Ichigo sat waiting upon the smooth wood of the ship. He’d not been there long, but long enough to know that Grimmjow was later than usual. He didn’t mind though, having been able to smell and hear the festivities happening aboard.   
  
He smiled as the captain strolled up to him, and tipped his head back to look up at the man. “You’re late.”  
  
Grimmjow chuckled, “So I am.” He agreed, bending. Without hesitating this time around, he slipped strong arms under Ichigo’s person and lifted the merman.  
  
Not as caught off guard as the previous time, Ichigo only half clung to the pirate this time, and let his tail curl around Grimmjow’s side and across the man’s lower back. The human seemed not to mind. “Have you better accommodations this night?” He asked, his voice taking on an almost haughty, but teasing edge. There was still a smile on his handsome features.  
  
“I have.” Grimmjow announced rather proudly, “At least… I hope. I think it’ll work, till we make land and I can come up with something better, at any rate.”  
  
The merman shifted in Grimmjow’s arms and pulled himself close, “I’m sure it’ll do just fine.”  
  
Grimmjow chuckled and half buried the lower half of his face against wet, soft orange hair, breathing in that familiar smell of salt and wilderness that could only come with being at sea.  
  
He walked them down the stairwell, mindful of the shared quarters of his crew, and carefully navigated the narrow corridor to his own room. Already set up and filled with fresh, cool water, the trunk he’d dragged in took up the middle of the space, but he didn’t settle Ichigo within it yet. Instead, he crossed the room and sat down upon his bed, leaving the merman to rest in his lap.  
  
Still with one arm wrapped loosely but surely around the back of the captain’s neck, Ichigo gave the large chest a once over. The lid was open, leaning against one edge of the table turned desk. The inside was of smooth, treated wood and the cool, fresh sea water within was a comforting smell. Ichigo smirked and arched orange brows slightly, “You plan to put me in a box? Am I to be a pet?”  
  
“No! Of course not,” Grimmjow shook his head, not realizing his companion was only giving him a hard time, “It’s… I had nothing else large enough, it’s temporary. If you don’t-“  
  
Ichigo turned to face him fully, twisting in the man’s lap and planting his hands on the pirate’s broad shoulders. He grinned in the man’s face, a mischievous glint to his predatory eyes. “No, no, Grimmjow, I jest.” He admitted with a laugh. Hanging off the side of the bed, his tail flourished happily, not unlike a wagging motion. “It’ll do just fine. Thank you.”  
  
“You’re cruel.” Grimmjow cocked a brow and gave the merman a look, though there was still the hint of a slant to his lips. “I thought perhaps I’d offended you, and that is the last thing I want.”  
  
“The last?” The sea creature tilted his head slightly, almost as if in curiosity, but there was a coyness to his voice to let the human know he still only played.  
  
The pirate nodded, his smirk growing a touch wider, a touch more sly. “The very last.”  
  
“Than what, good captain, is the first, I wonder?”  
  
“Ah, now that’s a dangerous thing to be asking a pirate.” The man’s grin grew all the wider still and large, calloused but gentle hands shifted in their hold, gliding over smooth skin and settling lower upon the merman’s hips.  
  
“Is it?” But there was no real question in Ichigo’s low, hushed voice. He once more wrapped his arms tighter about the human. The fingers of one hand coasted through thick, tussled blue hair at the back of the man’s head, wicked nails scratching just barely. When Ichigo adjusted the hold of his other, it was to tug lightly but obviously upon the sturdy material of the captain’s coat.  
  
“Very.” Grimmjow half whispered, his deep voice almost a purr. He began shrugging from the coat as he leaned upward, bringing his features a breath’s width from his companion’s. “But since you ask;” The coat fell to the bed behind him to be forgotten and he wrapped his arms tight around the merman’s middle, “I’ll show you anyway.”  
  
Ichigo laughed a husky sound into the kiss, his hand tightening in blue hair while the claws of his other found and bit through the shirt over Grimmjow’s chest.   
  
The small prick of sharp nails didn’t seem to bother the captain, and he pulled tight his arms, drawing Ichigo’s torso flush against his own and holding the creature there. His tongue just barely slicked across the seam of Ichigo’s lips, tasting salt and something that was distinctly Ichigo.  
  
Of course, Ichigo gladly complied, his hands once more moving and tugging at the pirate’s shirt. As the kiss was deepened and the room seemed to heat up around them, his only thought was that humans wore far too much of this silly clothing and it was a great hinderance to his desires.  
  
Grimmjow again released his companion and began working his muscled arms from the sleeves of his shirt. As he did, he leaned his weight over, shifted around, and, without the use of his hands, guided Ichigo so that the merman laid back upon the bed.  
  
An excited flush of brilliant color swirled and bled through the creature’s tail, but neither seemed to notice as Grimmjow’s shirt was left with his coat and he sat bare chested upon the bed. Hovering over his dear companion, he dragged one hand down Ichigo’s front, over firm abdominal muscles and heated, moist skin. He leaned forward, brought his lips and teeth to the merman’s collarbone, his chest, his throat, every inch of warm skin that caught his attention. But then he paused, though it was not out of nervousness or reconsideration, merely out of curiosity and maybe even surprise as he directed his attention lower.  
  
Aroused by the attention and unashamed about it, Ichigo gasped quiet little breaths and half writhed with each ghosting of touch against his body. He let his hands wander, let his fingers and sharp claws drag almost carefully across sturdy shoulders, down long, toned arms. But he too paused when Grimmjow did, and it wasn’t until he followed the pirate’s line of sight that he realized just how much the human had managed to get to him.  
  
Wrapped almost possessively around the captain’s wrist -the only part of the human’s body within its reach just yet- Ichigo’s arousal had fully presented itself.  
  
“That’s-“ But Grimmjow didn’t finish the obvious, as he watched in an odd sort of awe as the merman’s hard, yet flexible shaft pulsed against the inside of his arm. In the very back of his lust hazed mind, he supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised by the difference in their anatomy. As was needed by a sea creature used to forceful tides and slippery bodies, Ichigo’s member was almost serpentine. It was still very much a cock, but it was long and tentacle-like; thick at its base and tapered almost to a point at the tip. There was an automatic, instinctive way it pulsed and writhed in search of more than just warm skin, almost as if it moved of its own accord.  
  
“Yes… Of course it is-” Ichigo’s features flushed a brilliant, embarrassed red as he frowned his confusion, unsure exactly what to do now that the pirate seemed so surprised. Surely the man hadn’t been expecting female parts… “Is there something wrong with that?”  
  
“No,” Grimmjow chuckled a sinful sound and leaned low again, pushing his features into the crook of the merman’s neck, where he lavished the warm skin with a not quite harsh bite. “It makes sense,” He continued, more as if to himself than to Ichigo, “that you would be internal. I had wandered about it, on occasion…”  
  
“Of course it would be internal.” Ichigo shook his head, sounding as if it made all the sense in the world. In his world, it did. So if anything, his confusion doubled. “How else would it be?”  
  
“Uh, well, like mine, I suppose- Obviously I could see that it wasn’t, but…”  
  
The captain trailed off when Ichigo gave him the most bewildered look he’d ever seen on the merman’s handsome features. His chuckle was a bit louder, a bit more amused, this time. “Are you… a virgin, Ichigo?”  
  
Ichigo scoffed, “Of course not. I’ve sired at least half a dozen children and been with as many mermen as I have mermaids.”  
  
Grimmjow looked taken aback, until he realized mercreatures probably copulated in much the way fish did, in that they mated, went their separate ways when done, and maybe even laid eggs. Whatever the case, the captain assumed Ichigo had nothing to do with raising said offspring, if he even knew for sure that they had survived past infancy.  
  
Then his smirk returned and he idly wrapped his fingers loosely around the sea creature’s shaft, drawing a surprised jerk from Ichigo’s body and an equally surprised sound from his throat. “But you’ve no experience in affairs with humans?”  
  
“N-no…” Ichigo admitted in a half drawl, his claws digging a bit more harshly at Grimmjow’s bare arms. The pirate seemed not to mind. “I’ve told you before; you’re the first I did not kill. Why would I have ever seen a human without all that silly clothing?”  
  
“Silly?” Grimmjow laughed as he slowly stroked the length in his hand, “I suppose it would seem that way, wouldn’t it? But there’s a reason we wear clothing. We don’t have the same natural protection you do.”  
  
Ichigo frowned, then sighed a sound that was as much pleasure as it was exasperation. “I don’t care right now. You can explain it to me later, but right now, I cannot puzzle that over.”  
  
The captain smirked an amused, yet devilish expression and agreed. Leaning forward again, he sealed their lips and tightened the loose grip of his hand. When Ichigo moaned, he seized the opportunity and let his tongue run across the razor sharp points of vicious teeth, before finding Ichigo’s tongue.  
  
The merman’s clawed fingers released the pirate’s arms in a hurry, shooting straight for the very last of Grimmjow’s annoying clothing. The leather cord that tied shut the front of his breeches was snapped as Ichigo found it too difficult to bother unknotting. He tugged against the fabric and it didn’t take much to make the loosened pants slip down Grimmjow’s trim hips and pool around his thighs.  
  
Grimmjow’s lips tracked along Ichigo’s jawline and the merman gladly tipped back his chin to give the man easier access, his gills fluttering open briefly, before sealing shut again with the lack of water. All the while, Grimmjow continued stroking the merman’s erection, his easy pace verging on maddening, if the subtle writhing Ichigo was beginning to do was anything to go by. His long, powerful tail -angled out to the side to make room for Grimmjow upon the bed- slowly coiled around behind the human in a heated, almost possessive way.  
  
“Grimmjow…” Ichigo half panted. One hand tentatively found the human’s cock, but he was too distracted by heat and need to really pay much attention to what the pirate had been telling him. Surprisingly careful of his wicked claws, he grasped the length he found and was pleased by the deep, rumbling sound that came from his partner’s throat. “H-hurry up… you needn’t take overly long.”  
  
The pirate didn’t pull back, still licking and biting and kissing at Ichigo’s jaw and neck, though avoiding the soft area of his gills. “I was more trying to figure out where…” He admitted, voice taking on a rough, husky edge as Ichigo palmed him.  
  
“Where..? Oh.” Right, the differences in their anatomy. Ichigo pulled one hand away from the pirate hovering over him and reached down between them, letting his hand follow the softer, wider scales that formed the underside of his tail. Reluctantly, he released the pirate’s length and nudged the man over hard enough to shift Grimmjow’s weight, forcing him to either fall across Ichigo’s body, or straddle it.  
  
The pirate of course caught himself and ended up straddling the base of his companion’s tail. Levering himself more upright, a downward tug to his features and a furrow to his brow because of the rough handling, he looked down at Ichigo in time to watch the merman’s features flush anew. The creature’s plump bottom lips caught between rows of sharp teeth and Grimmjow almost expected blood. Then boyishly handsome features twisted slightly, before that soft lip was released with a gasp.  
  
Grimmjow pulled his enraptured gaze away long enough to look down between them. A hitched sound left his companion’s parted lips and the pirate watched as Ichigo sank fingers into a slitted part in sturdy scales, just a few inches below where the merman’s cock twitched and writhed with the attention.  
  
“Here-“ Ichigo breathed, spreading his fingers to reveal a soft, fleshy interior.  
  
To say that the pirate was aroused by the short display was an understatement. Even untouched at the moment, his cock pulsed and he grabbed the base. He said nothing as he lined himself up, pushing the head of his stiff member between Ichigo’s guiding fingers.  
  
Ichigo arched below the captain as the man eased in, a pleasured sound gasping free of its own accord. His clawed hands found their way back to the big human’s shoulders, clutching at strong muscle in need of the extra anchor as bright, excited colors bled through his tail with his pleasure.  
  
Grimmjow groaned at the heat and tightness dragging at his length. He leaned low over Ichigo’s upper half as the merman clutched at him almost desperately, and shifted his hips to draw back so that he could thrust forward a little faster, a little more forcefully this time. Ichigo keened below him and stuttered the captain’s name.  
  
When they were done, both laid panting in Grimmjow’s bed for what seemed a long time, splashed with sweat and salt and the seed Ichigo had spilled between them.  
  
After a few minutes of catching their breaths, Ichigo began levering himself upright, making a face of discomfort as he did. His breathing was still mildly strained and Grimmjow frowned, concerned, before he watched Ichigo twist toward the side of the bed and make to reach for the large chest that held nothing but cool saltwater. The creature’s jaw clenched as he swallowed dryly, attempting to find words to tell the man what he needed, but Grimmjow had already figured it out, and was already pulling himself upright to climb over Ichigo.  
  
He rounded the edge of the bed and, still only dawning a pair of pants in which the tie was broken and so didn’t stay up, scooped up his partner to carry him over to the chest.  
  
Ichigo heaved a relieved sigh as he entered the cool water, slouching low so that he could submerge the entirety of his top half, before coiling his tail tight so that it didn’t hang over the side and in open air. He looked up through the clean water and smiled a thanks at his pirate.  
  
Grimmjow slanted him a fond smirk back and reached into the water, using careful fingertips to trace the curve of Ichigo’s jaw. Ichigo merely blinked up at him and leaned into the touch. When he blinked, the milky, clear lid that protected his eyes from salt and ocean water stayed in place, giving him a haunting appearance, but still Grimmjow thought he looked beautiful. After their activities, there was still a lively color to his features and all that long, orange hair hung ethereal about his shoulders and face in the shallow basin of water. His tail was back to a calm, if not pleased looking, rich violet. The edges of nearly invisible, leathery scales shimmered gold with the dance of the flame from the lamp sitting upon Grimmjow’s desk nearby.   
  
As he took the sight in -a beauty that he was convinced could not be found in all the human world- Ichigo took the captain’s hand in both of his own and pressed his lips to Grimmjow’s palm. A gentle exhale pulsed against his wrist below the water, a flurry of tiny bubbles rising from Ichigo’s gils, and Grimmjow smiled as he was forced to wander if he’d really went and fell in love with a mythical sea monster.  
  
The moment didn’t last, though. A sturdy but not overly loud knock pounded against the wooden door to his quarters and they both jumped. There was a split second where wide brown eyes met equally rounded blue, before Grimmjow spun on his heal to face the door, pulling his hand from the water, and simultaneously pushed closed the sturdy lid of the chest. Just as he was tugging his too loose pants up a bit higher along his hips, the door creaked open a fraction.  
  
“You awake, Captain?” Came the voice of one of his crewmen.  
  
Grimmjow reached over and pulled his shirt from the twisted, tangled sheets on his bed and cleared his throat. “Yeah, what is it?”  
  
The door was pushed open wider, revealing the man in his doorway. Said man glanced around the disheveled room, then at the captain and his half dressed state. He just barely arched a brow but didn’t dare ask.  
  
Grimmjow matched his expression, pulling one sleeve of his shirt inside-right, more as a way to keep his hands busy than because he actually planned on putting it back on. “Well?” He prompted again.  
  
“Storm’s comin’, Captain.” The man announced, hovering in the doorway, “Looks like it’s gonna be a bad one.”  
  
Handsome, angular features quickly took on a serious expression. Grimmjow instantly began tugging his shirt back on. “I’ll be up shortly. To your post, make sure D and Shaw are up.”  
  
“Aye, Captain.” The man nodded and turned, trotting back towards the stairwell that led above deck.  
  
Grimmjow crossed the room in a rush, pushed his door shut again, and returned straight back to the chest that held his companion. As he lifted the lid, Ichigo twisted and rose, cool water streaming from his body and his wet hair. The expression on his features showed he’d heard the exchange.  
  
Kneeling so that he was on the same level as Ichigo, Grimmjow stopped readying long enough to press a quick kiss to salt-licked lips. “I’ll not be long,” He assured, “Allow me to go up and assess just how bad this is gonna be, than I’ll be back. Stay here, alright?”  
  
Ichigo nodded, lifting himself high enough to cross his arms upon the wooden edge of the trunk. He watched as the human that had become his lover bustled about, tugging on sturdy boots and flinging his sea coat around broad shoulders.  
  
Grimmjow paused in the doorway, glancing back at his companion with a grin that showed his love of the sea and everything about it, then turned and, throwing the door closed behind him, dashed down the hall.  
  
With a sigh, the merman shook his head and turned around again so that he could lean back against the wall of the trunk as he yet again sank lower in the shallow water. It wasn’t ideal; the water was quickly growing stagnant and the oxygen content was low, making it hard to breathe while under. But so long as the captain was the only one around and he wasn’t forced to fully submerge for long, it was acceptable, and certainly more convenient than having to return to the sea in the middle of their time together.  
  
Upon deck, Captain Jaegerjaquez stood against the starboard railing, his open coat fluttering out behind him, and watched with cold blue eyes as lightening shattered the dark upon the horizon. Wind howled over his ship, between the masts. It whipped about the ropes and rigging with angry snapping sounds and he ordered the sails lowered.  
  
His crew scrambled around behind him, following orders as they readied as best they could to weather a storm at sea.  
  
A man walked up to join him and Grimmjow glanced sidelong at him, than went back to studying the approaching storm. The rain hadn’t hit them just yet, but he could watch it draw nearer upon the rocking sea’s surface.  
  
“Who did you manage to anger?” The crewman asked under his breath as he too watched the storm.  
  
After the conversation he’d had with his first mate and lookout, Grimmjow sneered his dislike of what the man might have been implying. “No one.” Grimmjow growled at him, “Storms at sea are common and a regular hazard of sailing. If you can’t handle it, get off my ship.”   
  
But he wondered briefly; maybe the sea wasn’t pleased about his involvement with one of her creatures? Pushing the thought away, he turned from the railing and crossed to the helm. He gave the helmsman a once over, than looked back to the storm. He guessed they had under a half hour before it arrived in all it’s violent glory.   
  
“Stand your post for now. When the storm is upon us, I’ll take control.” He told his helmsman, than let his gaze linger on the entrance below deck. He barely heard the man’s agreement of his order, before he headed back towards his room.  
  
Still resting within the chest of ocean water, his back toward the door, Ichigo flinched and ducked lower as he heard multiple sets of footsteps draw near the closed entrance. He twisted over in the water, so that his belly faced downward and he could raise slightly to peek over the edge of the trunk. It was a tight fit for him to do so, but he was a flexible, graceful creature and his movements hardly even stirred the surface of the shallow water.  
  
“I’m telling you-“ He heard half whispered from the other side of the door, “Captain’s hiding something.”  
  
“He seemed back to his old self during the evening meal…” Another voice, sounding unsure about following his companion, countered.  
  
“Yeah, well he seemed suspicious when I came ta wake him up.” The first insisted, sounding almost angry.  
  
Ichigo swallowed and flashed sharp teeth towards the closed door. The pirate captain’s fears of what would befall Ichigo should his crew find him seeped into the merman’s mind. If it were only the two, he was sure he could handle himself against them if it came to that, even on land. Humans were soft and easily broken, after all, but should there be more… He wasn’t so sure. Humans were also capable of being very dangerous and strong when in their own element.  
  
A third set of footsteps -the heavy, surefooted thunking of sturdy boots- joined the first two men and Ichigo bristled, the dorsal fin of his tail arching high so that the tips of his spines protruded shark-like from the water.  
  
The third man’s voice, however, sent a wave of relief down the merman’s spine.  
  
“Can I help you, gentlemen?” Grimmjow asked, his rough voice verging on a displeased, aggressive growl as he eyed the two crewmen standing before his room. The door was still shut though, and the two didn’t look as if they’d caught sight of his companion.  
  
“Uh, no-” One started. He was interrupted by an elbow from his fellow crewman, though.  
  
“Aye, sir, we was wandering our orders for the storm.”  
  
Grimmjow eyed them a moment longer, suspicion in his gaze, but answered anyway. “It’s fast approaching and will be upon us soon. Prepare to man your stations should I need assistance, but it’s moving swiftly, and should be over with just as quickly.”  
  
The two half saluted, and hurried from before their captain.  
  
Grimmjow watched them go, then slipped into his quarters and nudged the door shut behind him. He found Ichigo exactly where he’d left the creature, and watched the last of the merman’s wariness drain from his handsome features.  
  
Then something of a frown took over Ichigo’s features, and he told his partner, “They weren’t really wondering about the storm…”  
  
“I had assumed not.” Grimmjow crossed the small room to sit upon the edge of the trunk. He smiled again as Ichigo pushed himself higher in the basin and rested one arm across his leg, then settled his pointed chin upon his arm.  
  
Looking up at the captain like that, Ichigo titled his head into the hand that ultimately found it’s way into his hair. “They know you’re hiding something… they just don’t know it’s me.”  
  
“Yes… D-roy mentioned rumors spreading through my crew.” Grimmjow shook his head, tangling his fingers through wet, soft orange hair. “I’ll handle it.” He assured, brushing the merman’s hair back and out of his boyish features, “Would you prefer to weather the storm in here or in the deep?”  
  
“In the ocean…” Ichigo admitted, “Do you think I should stay here though? Will sneaking me above deck be possible.”  
  
Grimmjow didn’t answer, but stood and rolled up his sleeves so that he could reach into the water and lift his companion free.  
  
Ichigo wrapped his arms tight around the man, water streaming from his body, and snuggled close to Grimmjow’s chest as he was carried to the door.  
  
Navigating the ship proved a challenge, as Grimmjow had assumed it would be, what with his crew awake and preparing for rough weather. The cover of darkness and the inability to keep a lantern lit in the wind helped, though. They creeped through the shadows, making their way to the railing. Once there, their parting was kept brief to insure they weren’t seen.  
  
“Good night, Captain.” Ichigo whispered, pressing a kiss to warm lips. “And good luck.”  
  
Grimmjow smirked and kissed him back, “I’ve nothing to fear from this storm.”  
  
Then Ichigo was gone, hidden below the black surface, and Grimmjow returned to the helm to take over as the rain finally reached them.  
  
In the morning, after the storm had passed and the ship had come out unscathed, Captain Jaegerjaquez was faced with what he’d feared he’d ultimately have to address. The storm seemed to have been that last weight that finally broke his crew’s silence.  
  
Pirates were as superstitious as any other good sailor. They held respect for their captain and his ship, but they held more respect for the sea they sailed and made their living upon. They did their best, even went out of their way, to appease the sea, and if something angered what they revered as god, there was little they wouldn’t do to make things right.  
  
That afternoon, with gray clouds still clinging to the edges of the horizon, Grimmjow was confronted by his men.  
  
“No more hiding, captain.” One demanded, his stance squared as he looked at his captain with a stern expression. There was anger and aggression in his features and his hand hovered near his belt. “We wanna know what you’ve been doing all this time? Skipping meals, sneaking out when you should be sleeping… And the storm last night! Think you that was random?”  
  
Around the man, a few others gathered and nodded. Some even shouted agreements and demands for answers. Though most of his crew was gathered round, only a handful actually spoke out against him. For now, most seemed willing to simply witness, though none looked outright ready to defend him and that was displeasing, if only from a loyalty standpoint.  
  
A vicious sneer clouded Grimmjow’s features as he stood in the middle of the deck of his ship and listened to the men around him. When first they’d come to him, he’d been leaning back comfortably against the helm. Now he stood with squared shoulders and crossed arms, his blue eyes aglow with his anger.  
  
“What are you saying?” The big man demanded, his voice a displeased growl.  
  
“I’m sayin’,” The crewmen started, his own anger roiling, “that you’re supposed to be captaining this ship and crew and you’re not doing a proper job of it. You’re head’s not in it and you’re endangering your men.”  
  
Grimmjow launched half a step forward, like he would throttle the man right then and there, before he reigned himself back in. His hands clenched into fists at his side and his lip curled. Leaning forward, like he strained against something invisible that barely held him back, he warned the man in a low voice, “Watch your tongue.” Then he straightened again and glared out at the gathered crew members, before his chilling gaze landed on the one in front of him, “When we make land, you’re the first off my ship and you’re not welcome back. Anyone else who thinks me an unfit captain can join you.”  
  
With that, he turned on his heel and stormed across the deck.  
  
That evening, he dined alone in his quarters and he knew all the hushed voices from his crew were about him and his captaining. His threat didn’t go over well, and the man he’d excused from his crew wasn’t quiet. Grimmjow’s time with Ichigo that night was brief and they stayed upon the deck, the captain’s sour mood surely obvious.  
  
Another clash was eminent. The sun didn’t even make a full rotation before the decommissioned crewman was back at it. That evening, when the man jumped back in, accusing Grimmjow of neglecting his crew and his ship, Grimmjow didn’t hold back.  
  
“You think me unfit to be your captain?” He asked, his voice a growl that spelled disaster as he advanced on the man. He fisted big hands in the crewmen’s shirt, shoving him towards the railing, “Then get off my ship.”  
  
“You really have gone mad!” The crewman proclaimed, trying to shrug free of the hands on him.   
  
Grimmjow wasn’t a weak man, though. His retired crewmen cursed his name as he fell overboard. He splashed into the water ungracefully, surfacing with a sputter as he screamed profanities and promised dark times for the blue haired man and those that still followed him.  
  
The captain merely curled his lip, watching as the man shrank in the distance, then turned from the railing. As he shouldered past his first mate, he muttered, “Find me a drink.” and headed below deck.  
  
Shawlong’s dark eyes coasted off to the side, locking with D-roy’s. The lookout grimaced, then nodded, and the two followed behind their captain.  
  
Not long later, as the sun dipped low enough to seemingly touch the horizon, Grimmjow was on his way to drunk and Ichigo was calling it a day, turning toward the ship he’d been following.  
  
As with sharks drawn to the splashing of a distressed creature, so too was Ichigo drawn to the frantic swimming of the man thrown overboard. Like the predator he was, he circled the pirate, evaluating and assessing. His first thought upon finding out that the creature making so much noise so far out to sea was a human, was to be sure something ill hadn’t befallen his friend, the captain.  
  
Under the water, his brown eyes easily pierced the thick darkness of near dusk and cool water. The invisible lid separating his sensitive eyes from the salt water insured near perfect vision and as he drew closer, he realized that this was most certainly not his friend. Something of a curious frown tugged at his features as he looked in the direction the human was desperately swimming. Leaving the man behind, Grimmjow’s ship sailed as if unaware of its loss, white sails spread wide and proud as the fierce prow cut through the water with the grace of a ship meant for battle.  
  
Ichigo finally surfaced after circling the man two or three times, and did nothing to conceal his presence to the panicked and angry seamen. He surfaced just high enough for his mouth to be above water, remembering the way his human companion had had trouble hearing him while he was below the surface, and looked curiously at the sailor. “Well you’re not Grimmjow.” He said, as if simple observation, as a way to get the frantic man’s attention.  
  
The pirate stopped dead in the water, his eyes widening as if he’d seen a ghost as he turned to a voice he should not have heard so far from his ship. If he had been frantic and terrified of the deep, vast ocean he was left to drown in before, he was even more so right then. He shouted for his captain, the first mate, lookout, other crew members; anyone who might hear his calls but of course he’d been abandoned for his treason and the ship wasn’t going to turn round. He knew that, yet still he screamed for help, anyone’s, while a monster that knew their captain’s name sank below the surface and disappeared again.  
  
Ichigo effortlessly glided through the cool water, mere feet below the surface and right under the swimming human. He resurfaced a man’s length in front of the pirate, and curiously frowned at the man from just above the water. His long, fiery hair fanned out upon the still water around him. Below the surface, his long tail easily held him still and afloat as he peeked over the water’s green-blue surface at the swimming human. He wasn’t as graceful as Grimmjow, he noted absently, and not nearly as confident.  
  
When the man paused his frantic strokes and searched for the creature again, he of course found Ichigo hovering in the water just before him, and he pulled up short with a startled sound. “You can’t be here!” He accused, almost angrily. He had been tossed overboard, alone, in the middle of the vast ocean with no land in sight. The creature before him looked human but he couldn’t possibly be. “You’re not- What are you? Stay away from me, monster! Bewitch the captain, but stay clear of me!”  
  
Ichigo curled his lip and scoffed. “I’m not a monster.” He said with a frown, “And I want nothing to do with you, human.”  
  
The man fumbled with something below the water, his features enough to tell Ichigo he was terrified. When his hands rose from the water again, a shining, metal gun was held between them, much like the one Grimmjow usually carried on his belt.  
  
Ichigo half smirked with a glimpse of sharp teeth. He shook his head, “The captain’s explained these to me. You cannot shoo-“  
  
But as he spoke, the man pulled the trigger and by some miracle, what should have been wet powder ignited anyway, and the deafening sound of a gunshot ripped through the still air. Ichigo cringed with the sound, flinching away. The lead ball left the barrel of the gun with a much weaker force than it would have should it have been dry and the heaviness of the water was enough to throw the shot askew, pushing it wide. Still, the shot aimed for Ichigo’s chest instead found mark along the skin of where his tail bled into his human-looking half. It peeled skin away from his hip and he gasped in surprise and pain.  
  
Blood quickly blossomed around him, but he had no time to notice it. Neither of them did.  
  
He’d been attacked, and Ichigo was a terrifyingly powerful sea creature, a predator. Rather than fleeing like the sailor had surely hoped, he snarled and bared fanged teeth. Below the water, his tail thrashed with a single, powerful side-to-side motion and like a shark, he surged forward in the water.  
  
Unlike when he’d attacked Grimmjow near the shore, there was no land here for the sailor to use to his aid. There was nothing to keep him from sinking below the waves. There was no crew to bravely rush to his aid.  
  
When Ichigo’s claws sank into soft flesh and his vicious teeth went for the human’s throat, the pirate’s scream was swallowed by the water he was pulled under.  
  
It only took the merman mere minutes to be done with the man. The water cleaned the blood from his wound, as well as from his teeth and features. He left a half consumed corpse behind for the sharks to find as the human’s gun slowly sank to the bottom far far below.  
  
When Ichigo caught up with the ship he’d been fondly following after for months, it was later in the night than usual and he was unsurprised to find that the moon was high above and the sun had long settled. He poked his features above the water, glanced up at the railing that was his usual meeting point with the pirate captain, and smiled as he found the silhouette of the man leaning against the railing, his back to where Ichigo swam below.  
  
When he scaled the ship’s haul and pulled himself aboard at the captain’s side, the pirate was slow to acknowledge him, but when he finally turned to the merman, Grimmjow grinned. “You’re late.” He half mumbled.  
  
Ichigo smiled back and shrugged, then paused and frowned as his nostrils flared, “You reek of that foul drink of yours…”  
  
Grimmjow laughed and nodded, reaching over and tugging a half empty tankard towards him, “The crew an’ I’ve had a few rounds.”  
  
“A few?” Ichigo arched a brow, easily realizing his pirate friend wasn’t quite himself at the moment.  
  
“Aye,” Grimmjow confirmed, “A few more than a few, perhaps.”  
  
“When first we met,” Ichigo smirked an expression between amused and skeptical, “you claimed you’d rather drown in that awful drink. Were you trying?”  
  
Again, Grimmjow grunted a laugh but shook his head and scooted about so that he faced Ichigo, “Only mildly, I assure you.” Then a more sober expression took over his handsome features, “I think the crew and I earned a drink this day.” When Ichigo merely tilted his head in curiosity, the pirate frowned and rotated the wooden mug in his hands, “A good captain does not dispose of his crew in that way. I should have waited until we made landfall. Instead, I sentenced a good man to his death.”  
  
“Ahh…” Ichigo crawled a bit closer, “So that wasn’t an accident, then.”  
  
“It wasn’t an accident.” Grimmjow confirmed with a shake of his head. He slouched forward enough to rest his elbow against his bent knee and prop his chin in his hand, what was left of his drink forgotten at his side for the moment. With his other hand, he reached out and, a bit clumsy from his tipsy state, ran his fingers through long, wet orange hair.  
  
Ichigo maneuvered to half curl around the human, so that his tail wrapped around behind Grimmjow. “Why…?”  
  
“Why?” Grimmjow frowned, then snorted, “He accused me of being daft. In front of everyone! Said I was unfit to captain my ship and undeserving of my crew. Treason, those words, so I made him take a walk.”  
  
Ichigo frowned too, “That’s a preposterous claim.”  
  
Grimmjow half laughed and straightened, “Agreed.” he toasted, grabbing his tankard and knocking back another mouthful.  
  
Ichigo half rolled over so that he could bend almost as if sitting upright, the way people do, with his tail stretched out before him, and took the cup from the captain’s hand. Careful not to spill the half full tankard, he set it aside and pulled himself into the captain’s lap. Tanking handsome features carefully in his clawed hands, he gave the man a stern look, “You’re a fine captain. You’re actions were justified. Enough of this drinking.”  
  
Grimmjow happily left his drink forgotten in favor of wrapping his arms around the merman in his lap, but as he did, his hand brushed the gash in Ichigo’s side, near his tail and the sea creature hissed a small sound of discomfort.  
  
The pirate frowned at him, then pulled his hand back to scrub it across his tired eyes as if to sort out his wavering vision, then glanced at the wound. “What happened?” He asked, careful as he soothed his fingertip over the jagged tear in smooth skin.  
  
“I met your traitorous crewman.” Ichigo confessed, “…he shot me.”  
  
“That’s impossible. His gun would have been wet.”  
  
Ichigo shrugged in the captain’s arms. “Yes, well, that’s what I tried to say when he pulled the gun on me, but… Hmph, apparently no one told him.”  
  
Grimmjow’s frown turned dark, “You killed him?”  
  
“I…” Worried the human would be displeased with him, Ichigo hesitated before nodding, “Yes.”  
  
The pirate nodded back and rewrapped his arms tight about the mercreature, “Good, else I would have had to turn round and do it myself.” With a bit of effort, he climbed to his feet, oh so careful not to drop his companion. His drink forgotten along with his previous misgivings of his actions, he navigated the undulating craft towards the stairway that led below deck with mostly steady strides. He was a pirate after all, he could handle his alcohol quite well.  
  
“Do not drop me, good captain.” Ichigo clung to the man as he was carried to the stairwell that led below. There was something of a nervous smirk on his features, but he was certainly glad for the excuse to wrap his arms tight about the back of the man’s neck and press himself close to Grimmjow’s broad chest.  
  
Grimmjow grunted a laugh, but was still careful of his volume once below deck, in case any of his crewmen weren’t quite as asleep as they seemed. “Doubting my strength now, are you?”  
  
“Of course not,” Ichigo half scoffed, the wide fin at the very end of his tail fluttering before he coiled the long appendage closer to avoid the narrow walls of the corridor. “It’s more your awareness I’m unsure of.”  
  
“Half drunk at best,” Grimmjow assured, a grin on his features. He turned to shoulder the door to his quarters open and backed through the doorway. Using the toe of his boot, he pushed the door closed behind them. “I’ll be good as usual by morning.”  
  
He missed a step with the next subtle rock of his ship and stumbled, though managed to turn and end up seated upon his bed, Ichigo in his lap again. He laughed about it and Ichigo shook his head and laughed too.  
  
“That drink does horrible things to you.” The merman said, a smile still on his face.  
  
Grimmjow nodded, “It does.” and leaned in to close the small gap that had been between them. His lips found Ichigo’s and the merman kissed him back, despite the lingering taste of alcohol that tried to numb his tongue.  
  
When the pirate’s mouth moved to his jaw, then found the tender side of his neck -though still careful of the closed slits of his gills- Ichigo went rigid with an arch to his spine and let out an aroused little breath. His hands fisted in the captain’s shirt, claws digging through and tearing the thin fabric but never touching the man’s already scarred skin.  
  
As Grimmjow’s teeth found his collarbone, Ichigo began pushing almost desperately at the ruined shirt. The big human pulled his hands from Ichigo’s body just long enough to hurriedly help shrug from the article, simultaneously allowing Ichigo to lay back upon the bed. He of course followed to hover over the mercreature, his hot mouth never leaving smooth, moist skin. The slight taste of salt was far from a deterrent.  
  
“H-have you the ability-“ Ichigo started to question, cut short when Grimmjow’s shirt fell to the floor and big hands found his hips, then moved to tease at the soft, leathery skin at the very front of his tail, just below where it met the skin of his human half.  
  
“Yes.” Grimmjow half growled into his neck, “I’m very capable at the moment.”  He assured, his pants having already grown tight. His drunkenness was barely a buzz in the back of his mind at the moment, as he focused on the merman in front of him.  
  
It was an understatement to say that Ichigo was turned on as well, and his length had already presented itself with Grimmjow’s ministrations and attention. His tail flushed with vibrant, lively colors to further give away his aroused state and, with the shirt out of his way, his hands next went to the pirate’s pants.  
  
He writhed below the captain that night, as careful with his sharp claws and vicious teeth as he could remember to be. When they were done, Grimmjow still sported a fair share of marks, though all would heal and leave no permanent evidence.   
  
Panting and sated and worn out, Grimmjow conjured the strength to reach over and drag closer the makeshift basin he’d filled with fresh salt water earlier that evening, just after he and his crew had gotten drunk, and helped Ichigo from the bed and into the cool relief of it. As his companion settled comfortably, he collapsed, still mostly naked, upon his bed. He was out before he could even make himself comfortable.  
  
Ichigo glanced over at him, settled with his back against one end of the chest and his tail coiled loosely to fit within it as well. He propped one elbow upon the wooden, curved edge and rested his temple against his hand as he smiled. After a moment, he decided the pirate captain had earned a nap and settled back for one of his own. Hopefully in a few hours time, when he would need to leave before dawn, Grimmjow’s drunkenness would have worn off.  
  
It hadn’t been long -an hour at most- when he was startled from his light, post-romp nap by the subtle sounds from the other side of the captain’s door. At first, as he rose higher in the shallow water, he thought perhaps it was simply extra noise from a bit of turbulence. Rougher seas tended to cause more creaks and bangs in large, wooden ships. But as he listened a bit more closely, he realized it was most certainly not.  
  
Hissing a long, low sound between sharpened teeth, Ichigo sent a quick look Grimmjow’s way and found the man still passed out exactly as he’d fallen. Rolling over in the trunk as carefully as he could, he wrapped tight his fingers around the edge facing the door, and rose just high enough to peek over, listening intently to the sounds of two or three men just outside.   
  
His eyes darted back toward the sleeping captain, but he hesitated to raise his voice loud enough to make the man stir, lest he draw more attention from those outside the room. Careful with the way he moved so that he didn’t splash the water he rested in, he reached over the rim and across the small space between him and the bed. He couldn’t quite reach the human, only the bedsheets, so he fisted his hand in the cloth and tugged, hoping it would be enough to get the man’s attention.  
  
When it wasn’t, he shot a glance towards the door again, before using his other hand against the side of the chest to push himself higher from the water. Finally able to reach the man, he settled his went hand across bare, smooth skin. Water dripped from his arms to the floor, the bed. Droplets slid against the golden skin of Grimmjow’s shoulder and chest and yet still, even when Ichigo shook the man, he didn’t stir.  
  
“Grimmjow–!” He dared breathe, reaching further to settle his damn fingers upon handsome, sleep-heavy features.  
  
Then the sound of a hand on the door reached him, and Ichigo flinched away, ducking back down into the chest. He swallowed and watched with wide eyes as the door pushed open just a crack, like whoever stood on the other side hesitated.  
  
“Grimmjow,” He practically begged where he peeked over the edge of the chest, his voice a whisper. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why the man wasn’t waking up. “Please…”  
  
From outside, a quiet voiced reached him, “How do you know it’s worked?”  
  
“Only one way to find out.” Answered a louder voice, just before the door was pushed open the rest of the way.   
  
No shout met the intruders. No reprimand or growling demands. Nervous and frightened, Ichigo stared with wide eyes as two men filtered into the room. Their eyes first swept over the sleeping captain, before landing unerringly upon Ichigo. The merman sank a bit lower in the water, trapped in what may as well have been a puddle, and unable to leave.  
  
The two that had entered -one tall and aged, one short and young- were quiet for a long moment, as if disbelieving of what they set their eyes upon, despite that they had surely been searching for the creature they’d found. Then one edged around the other and took a step toward the merman.  
  
Ichigo shoved away as hard as he could, not at all liking the events unfolding, but he couldn’t go far. His back hit the opposite side of the chest, water sloshing in the chest almost violently. His tail flushed a deep, fearful crimson and his fins arched high.  
  
The man paused, watching him, before something of a grin settled upon his youthful features. “Now now…” He soothed, taking another step toward the chest and its contents, “We only wanna talk.”  
  
“What have you done to him?” Ichigo hissed back at him, flashing sharp fangs. His claws curled against the wooden rim of the chest, digging effortless gouges into the polished surface. His orange hair hung wild around his features and down his back, lending him a feral quality.  
  
The taller man was the one to answer, as he padded toward where the captain laid passed out upon his bed. “Worry not, creature, the captain will be fine.”  
  
“A little extra somethin’ in his drink’s all.” The blond added, “To help him sleep after so many sleepless nights. Guess we know who’s been the cause now.”  
  
“He trusted you.” Ichigo growled, pushing himself back against the chest’s wall like he could simply seep through it.   
  
“Yes, and this is for his own good.” Came the taller man’s reply, as he too turned toward the merman. “He’ll come to his senses once you’re gone.”  
  
When they advanced upon him, Ichigo didn’t go quietly. He kicked so hard against the chest he was confined to that he surged clear from the water and over the side, sliding the heavy trunk across the floor and nearly overturning it with the force of his motions. Water soaked the small room’s floor. His tail fin snapped wide as he wriggled and thrashed upon the slippery, wooden floor.  
  
One of his attackers crashed the floor, tripped up by the long appendage. He cursed, then hissed a pained sound as he pulled a sharp, barbed bit of cartilage from his calf. Blood darkened his pants. Ichigo only very vaguely registered the detachment of one of his spines, too busy struggling with the other pirate.  
  
All the while, he growled and hissed and called Grimmjow’s name.   
  
The captain didn’t stir.  
  
Getting a thrashing, powerful sea creature up a set of stairs he had no desire to ascend proved difficult. Ichigo had the strength to overpower the two humans, he merely lacked the vantage point, the footing needed to do so. He shoved with all his strength against the chest of one of his captors as he was hauled up the staircase. The man fell back and hit the narrow wall so hard the wood behind him splintered with a crack.  
  
With his weight suddenly held aloft only by one of the men, he twisted free, dropping to the uneven floor below. He hit the stairs with a grunt, wincing at the harsh landing, before hands were on him again.  
  
They dragged him by the tail up the rest of the stairs, grasping hold of slippery, leathery scales where those wicked claws and all that inhuman strength couldn’t quite reach. Halfway across the deck, they stopped and he rolled over onto his back where he could look up at them. By this point, his terror was obvious, his features pinched and his eyes wide. Panic showed in his fathomless, wide brown eyes as he looked about him, at the pirates closing in on him.  
  
One and all, Grimmjow’s crew looked murderous, with varying degrees of fear and anger.  
  
A third man dared draw near, too near, and the moment he stepped within Ichigo’s reach, vicious claws sank deep, tearing flesh and ripping through muscle. Ichigo hissed and snarled his desperation and his dislike.   
  
They’d dragged him up from the hold, where he couldn’t get to the captain and the railing was so close now, not more than a few paces away, but that was a long few paces for a creature with no legs with which to cross it.  
  
The safety of the ocean called to him. He could hear it as it lapped peacefully against the haul, unaffected by the events of a few mortals.  
  
“Wait! Wait-“ Ichigo pleaded, dragging himself backward toward the railing. He wasn’t permitted to go far as the crew circled around him and blocked him in. Panic lit his tail in deep, cold colors as he coiled it below himself, all his fins arched high, conveying his threat. “Please, I’m not-”  
  
“Quiet, monster,” One of the crewmen to drag him from below, the tall man with serious features and dark hair, ordered as he towered over the merman, “You’ll not enslave us as you have the captain.”  
  
Ichigo shook his head, his fear and desperation easy to see and worn openly on his features. “No, no you don’t- I’m not what you think I am, I’m merely a merman, not- I would never hurt him! I have no ill wishes for you or anyone else on this ship!”  
  
“Really? Wasn’t it you that gave the captain those scars?” the other man, younger and with blond hair, asked. In his hand, a sword that Ichigo hadn’t seen before glittered in the rising light of the sun.  
  
Ichigo swallowed, his chest swelling with a deep, heaving breath, “I…it was, but-“ He shook his head again, looking over his shoulder and up at those cutting off his escape from the ship’s deck. “That was before I got to know him, I’ve regretted it everyday since. Please, you must believe me…”  
  
Another man stepped forward, clapping a hand over the shoulder of the first. Ichigo watched with wide, horrified eyes.  
  
“Hurry and be done with it, Shaw.” The man said, matching the creature’s look, “Before the captain wakes and gives us a fight about it.”  
  
The first mate nodded his agreement and drew a sword as well.  
  
“W-wait, please…” Humans were usually weak and pitiful, but here, on the dry, solid deck, Ichigo was in their element where they could show their true strengths. “Ask him-“ Ichigo had to force his trembling voice into something loud enough to be heard. “Wake him up,” He bid them, nodding, “and ask him. He’ll tell you. I mean no harm to anyone here. I… I love your captain. I would never hurt him.”  
  
“Quit your singing, monster, no one here will fall for your lies.”  
  
As men closed in, Ichigo bristled all over again. He bared his fangs and he knew he’d not win this fight. His panicked, enraged gaze fell on the tall man that seemed to be leading the others. When he spoke, his voice hissed between his teeth, the pitch showing his desperation, “You’re the first mate, aren’t you? He trusts you! He speaks well of you and this is how you repay that?”  
  
Shawlong was the first to strike. Ichigo saw it coming. He held them off as long as he could, but was a lone merman out of water and those he faced were pirates very much in their element.  
  
Grimmjow awoke with a horrible roiling in his stomach. He groaned and mentally cursed his drinking as he rolled over and dropped his feet to the floor. Scrubbing a hand across his features, he finally pried his eyes open. Early morning light spilled in through the small porthole window near his desk. He glanced at it, over the chest that took up the majority of the center of his quarters, before his vivid blue eyes shot wide and darted right back to said chest.  
  
Empty.  
  
Grimmjow scrambled upright, practically threw himself against it’s edge and looked down into cold, dead water. Empty. The chest was empty and he knew he’d fallen asleep before carrying Ichigo back to the water. He knew he did because he hadn’t really been that drunk.  
  
Cursing like the sailor he was, the captain half slid as he shot upright and tore for the door, yanking his pants up as he went. He took the stairs three at a time, clear up to the deck. The roiling his gut only got worse. Before he even burst into open air and set his bare feet upon the deck, he could hear the snarling, the whimpering.  
  
He could smell the blood.  
  
Grimmjow sprinted the length of the deck they’d dragged him, yelling and cursing and screaming his name.  
  
When he reached the ring of his crew, he didn’t pause. He withdrew the gun always belted to his hip and used his single shot on the man that stood between him and where Ichigo lay on the deck. Before the crewmen even pieced together that he’d been shot in the back, Grimmjow was shouldering him out of the way. As he threw himself into the center of the ring, Grimmjow pulled a sword away from one of his men, then used it to open wide the man’s front.  
  
He dropped at the panting, bleeding merman’s side in time to stay a strike that surely would have been a decapitating blow. Steel rang against steel and the crew fell silent as they caught up to what was happening; to seeing their captain attack his own men and grab hold of a dying sea monster.  
  
“Ichigo…” Grimmjow half whispered, his voice a hoarse rasp. His hands trembled as he dropped the borrowed sword and pulled the merman from the blood soaked deck and into his lap. Ichigo’s long, powerful tail unfurled out limply as his body was maneuvered. He breathed in weak, desperate little gasps. In effort to get needed oxygen, even his gills worked, opening red and rigid along his throat. Blood dripped in thick, dark rivulets from their corners and down his slender neck. “Oh, Ichigo…”  
  
The merman’s jaw worked as Ichigo swallowed and forced out words. “C-captain…” An unhealthy tremble ran down his spine and the corners of his pale lips quirked up slightly, into a smile that broke the captain’s heart, “T-take…s-swim with m-mme?”  
  
Grimmjow nodded, the ache in his chest making it hard to breathe. He slid his arms under the merman’s tail and around his shoulders, and oh so carefully lifted the creature he’d come to care for.  
  
One look was all it took to make way. His crew opened up a path for their grieving captain, blood on their hands and far far from land. Silence rang like the toll of a bell; shocked and guilty and forlorn.  
  
The walk to the railing was a short one -a few paces- but it was a heavy one. Ichigo’s breathing hitched as the merman’s head lolled to rest against the captain’s chest. Sharp, blood stained claws clutched weakly at the man’s bare skin, gentle and careful even as the life drained from rich, brown eyes.  
  
Grimmjow stood against the railing of his ship, cradling Ichigo’s body, for a long time. He stood there, simply looking out at the endless horizon and burning into his memory the weight of the man he carried. Never again would they swim together, or sit in the shallows and pretend they were from the same world. Never again would the pirate captain see his best friend, his lover.  
  
After a while, Grimmjow released his grip and let the weight in his arms slip over the side of the railing. Only when he heard the uncharacteristic, but melodic whisper of water splashing, did he look down and watch as Ichigo’s body sank back into the sea where he’d come from and where he belonged.   
  
Fiery, orange hair fanned out in the water, catching the rays of sun that penetrated the cool surface. Thick red was lifted, washed away from the merman’s torn flesh and cleaned by the sea. Grimmjow could hardly drag his eyes from the sightless ones that stared back up at him.   
  
Ichigo had always been so beautiful while in the water.  
  
When the captain finally turned from the railing, he was faced with his crew, with the men and women that had murdered and taken from him the only thing he’d found as fascinating as the sea.  
  
His once trusted first mate was the first to die.  
  
Stories would be told for years, for decades. When next the ship made land, she was empty and crewless, naught but the captain at her helm upon the deck. A captain that had slaughtered his entire, traitorous crew out of retribution for the murder of a single creature.  
  
Alone, as the stars filled the skies, Grimmjow would wade out waist deep into the surf of a calm, quiet alcove, his ship anchored not far from the white-sanded beach. And each night, he begged the ocean to let him drown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear your thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> So...fluffy... It's so hard for me to write fluff. Hopefully it turned out ok?  
> Let me know what you think!


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